General Statistics on Vegetation Blocking Footways
Case reference EIR2025/00210
Received 30 January 2025
Published 25 February 2025
Request
Reports of Obstruction from Private Land:
1. How many reports or complaints regarding overgrown vegetation and foliage obstructing footways, originating from private land were received by your authority in the past two years (2023 and 2024)?
Reports of Obstruction from Public Land:
2. How many reports or complaints regarding overgrown vegetation and foliage obstructing footways originating from public land were received by your authority in the same period?
Actions Taken by the Authority
Enforcement or Intervention on Private Land:
3. For reports concerning overhanging vegetation and foliage from private land, how many led to:
• The landowner being contacted?
• Formal enforcement action?
• Direct intervention by the authority to remove or address the vegetation?
• Penalty fines issued?
Length of time for action to be taken
4. On average, how long did each report take to action, from the moment the complaint was received, to the point which the issue was dealt with?
5. What is the usual timeframe you state you will deal with overgrown vegetation and foliage in?
Maintenance of Public Land:
6. What actions were undertaken to address complaints about overgrown vegetation and foliage obstructing footways on public land? Please provide details of:
• The number of cases resolved per year (2023 and 2024).
• The nature of the interventions (e.g., pruning, clearing, etc.).
Best Practices and Guidance
Policies or Guidance on Overhanging Vegetation:
7. Does your authority have any specific policies, procedures, or guidance documents on preventing or addressing overgrown vegetation and foliage obstructing footways? If so, please provide copies or links to these documents, ensuring they are in an accessible format for blind and partially sighted people.
Examples of Good Practice:
8. Can you provide examples of good practice adopted by your authority to effectively manage overhanging vegetation and foliage issues (e.g., community engagement, educational campaigns, partnerships with landowners, or consultation with disability groups)?
Coordination with Other Authorities:
9. Has your authority worked with neighbouring councils or external organizations to share resources or best practices for tackling overhanging vegetation? If so, please provide details.
Accessible reporting
10. What is the process of reporting overgrown vegetation and foliage, how many steps are there, and how accessible/easy to find are these processes on your website? (By accessible, we mean how easy is it for a blind or partially sighted person using assistive technology or person with low vision, to access and report it.)
11. How many reports of overgrown vegetation and foliage did you receive from blind and partially sighted people did you receive in the past two years?
Spending and Budget Allocation
Expenditure on Addressing Vegetation Issues:
12. What was the total expenditure allocated and spent by the authority on tackling overhanging vegetation and foliage affecting footways during the past two years? Please break down this spending by:
• Addressing vegetation from public land.
• Addressing vegetation from private land (including enforcement and direct intervention costs).
Additional Budget for Vegetation Management:
13. Has your authority allocated any specific budget or additional funding (e.g., grants, subsidies) to manage overhanging vegetation and foliage? If so, please provide details of the amounts and their use.
Response
Reports of Obstruction from Private Land:
1. How many reports or complaints regarding overgrown vegetation and foliage obstructing footways, originating from private land were received by your authority in the past two years (2023 and 2024)?
Reports of Obstruction from Public Land:
2. How many reports or complaints regarding overgrown vegetation and foliage obstructing footways originating from public land were received by your authority in the same period?
Actions Taken by the Authority
Enforcement or Intervention on Private Land:
3. For reports concerning overhanging vegetation and foliage from private land, how many led to:
• The landowner being contacted?
• Formal enforcement action?
• Direct intervention by the authority to remove or address the vegetation?
• Penalty fines issued?
Length of time for action to be taken
4. On average, how long did each report take to action, from the moment the complaint was received, to the point which the issue was dealt with?
5. What is the usual timeframe you state you will deal with overgrown vegetation and foliage in?
Maintenance of Public Land:
6. What actions were undertaken to address complaints about overgrown vegetation and foliage obstructing footways on public land? Please provide details of:
• The number of cases resolved per year (2023 and 2024).
• The nature of the interventions (e.g., pruning, clearing, etc.).
Best Practices and Guidance
Policies or Guidance on Overhanging Vegetation:
7. Does your authority have any specific policies, procedures, or guidance documents on preventing or addressing overgrown vegetation and foliage obstructing footways? If so, please provide copies or links to these documents, ensuring they are in an accessible format for blind and partially sighted people.
Examples of Good Practice:
8. Can you provide examples of good practice adopted by your authority to effectively manage overhanging vegetation and foliage issues (e.g., community engagement, educational campaigns, partnerships with landowners, or consultation with disability groups)?
Coordination with Other Authorities:
9. Has your authority worked with neighbouring councils or external organizations to share resources or best practices for tackling overhanging vegetation? If so, please provide details.
Accessible reporting
10. What is the process of reporting overgrown vegetation and foliage, how many steps are there, and how accessible/easy to find are these processes on your website? (By accessible, we mean how easy is it for a blind or partially sighted person using assistive technology or person with low vision, to access and report it.)
11. How many reports of overgrown vegetation and foliage did you receive from blind and partially sighted people did you receive in the past two years?
Spending and Budget Allocation
Expenditure on Addressing Vegetation Issues:
12. What was the total expenditure allocated and spent by the authority on tackling overhanging vegetation and foliage affecting footways during the past two years? Please break down this spending by:
• Addressing vegetation from public land.
• Addressing vegetation from private land (including enforcement and direct intervention costs).
Additional Budget for Vegetation Management:
13. Has your authority allocated any specific budget or additional funding (e.g., grants, subsidies) to manage overhanging vegetation and foliage? If so, please provide details of the amounts and their use.
A. Herefordshire Council holds information on actions taken by the Authority.
This information is held by our enforcement team.
To ascertain the information you have requested, these files will need to be manually checked by officers to see which cases resulted in enforcement and then collate and extract the information requested. There are 1236 cases in the timeframe requested, taking 2 minutes to check each one to see if it led to enforcement, which would take over 42 hours.
Under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, public authorities can make a ‘reasonable’ charge for staff time and costs in such requests. Due to the complexity and volume of the information which needs to be searched through, there will be a fee payable for this information to be retrieved, collated and provided to you. The fee is in accordance with Regulation 8 of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, and with our information requests charging policy.
The Information Commissioner’s Office suggests that public authorities use a rate of £25 per hour for any staff time involved. This in line with the rate applicable under the Freedom of Information Act by virtue of The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.
The fee payable is £1,050
This has been calculated as follows:
Officer time to retrieve, collate and provide information at rate of £25 per hour (42 hours @ £25 per hour) = £1,050
Please therefore take this letter as a charging notice under Regulation 8 of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Payment may be made online via the council’s website using the council’s 24 hour secure payment service, which accepts most major debit or credit cards. Please select ‘Information Requests’ from the list of services.
If you are unable to make payment online, and require an alternative payment option, please let me know.
You have 60 working days in which to pay this fee. The information will be sent to you following receipt of this fee and the work being carried out as specified above. If remittance is not received during this time we will consider the request closed.
Please note that, even if the fee is paid, this does not automatically mean that you will be provided with the information requested. The information will still need to be checked to see whether any exceptions apply, for example, whether any information is the personal data of a third party, or whether any is commercially sensitive, etc. If it is considered that any exceptions do apply, then this information may be withheld in part or in its entirety. If that is the case, you will be advised of the reasons for this and given details of your right to appeal.
The service area have advised that they could answer questions all other questions besides Q3. Please let me know if you’d like this information.
Documents
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