Local Authority Flags: Removal and Cost
Case reference FOI2026/02062
Received 27 August 2026
Published 16 September 2026
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act, please could you tell me the following:
1. How much has your local authority has spent removing unauthorised flags that have been erected on lamp posts and other street furniture in the year August 1st, 2025-August 1st, 2026 and if known, how many flags were removed.
If data is not available for this date range, can you give data for the last twelve months held and specify the date range.
2. How much has your local authority spent on erecting Union Jack or St Georges flags from August 1st, 2025- August 1st, 2026 and if known, how many.
If data is not available for this date range, can you give data for the last twelve months and specify the date range.
3. How many complaints has your local authority received about unauthorised flags being erected on lamp posts and other street furniture in the year August 1st, 2025-August 1st, 2026 and since August 1st, 2026.
If data is not available for this date range, can you give data for the last twelve months and specify the date range.
4. If accessible within the cost limit, please also provide the same data for questions 1, 2 and 3 for the prior year in the same format.
(For instance, if providing data in the format August 1st 2025 - August 1st 2026, please also include August 1st 2024 - August 1st 2025.)
5. If there is another local authority that might also hold the same data (for instance, a higher or lower tier local authority - a county council or a distract council), please name it.
Response
Under the Freedom of Information Act, please could you tell me the following:
1. How much has your local authority has spent removing unauthorised flags that have been erected on lamp posts and other street furniture in the year August 1st, 2025-August 1st, 2026 and if known, how many flags were removed.
If data is not available for this date range, can you give data for the last twelve months held and specify the date range.
2. How much has your local authority spent on erecting Union Jack or St Georges flags from August 1st, 2025- August 1st, 2026 and if known, how many.
If data is not available for this date range, can you give data for the last twelve months and specify the date range.
3. How many complaints has your local authority received about unauthorised flags being erected on lamp posts and other street furniture in the year August 1st, 2025-August 1st, 2026 and since August 1st, 2026.
If data is not available for this date range, can you give data for the last twelve months and specify the date range.
4. If accessible within the cost limit, please also provide the same data for questions 1, 2 and 3 for the prior year in the same format.
(For instance, if providing data in the format August 1st 2025 - August 1st 2026, please also include August 1st 2024 - August 1st 2025.)
5. If there is another local authority that might also hold the same data (for instance, a higher or lower tier local authority - a county council or a distract council), please name it.
Answer: The information for question 3 is not held in a form that would enable it to be located, retrieved and extracted within the Appropriate Time Limit which equates to 18 hours as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Our electronic reporting systems are unable to run a report for this information. To ascertain the data requested, officers would need to manually check individual files for this information. An initial search has shown that 933 files would need to be checked for this information, and it is estimated that it would take 5 minutes to check each file. Once the details had been identified this would need to be noted and once all files had been checked in this way, the total figures requested could be calculated.
This would at a conservative estimate take at least 77.75 hours to complete. Where the Limit is exceeded Public Authorities are not obliged to supply the information requested by virtue of S12 of the Act. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
However, within the 18 hour limit, we can provide answers for the remaining questions (1, 2, 4 and 5) as requested. Please advise us if this is something you require.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.