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)?
Compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. We would have to look at 13800 reports to check whether they were for vegetation originating from private land and at a minute at a time, this is 13800 minutes and 230 hours.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.
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?
Compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. We would have to look at 13800 reports to check whether they were for vegetation originating from public land and at a minute at a time, this is 13800 minutes and 230 hours. Furthermore, not all public land is in the remit of Devon County Council and some of this will be treated as privately owned, for example, if it is owned by a district or town council.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.
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?
Please see response to question 1.
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?
Devon County Council does not hold this information.
5. What is the usual timeframe you state you will deal with overgrown vegetation and foliage in?
Timeframes vary depending on the risk rating of the report.
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.).
Please see response to question 2.
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.
This can be found in the relevant section 1.22 in the Highway Safety Policy, which can be found at the following link Highway Safety Policy vers 6.1 effective 1st January 2021.
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)?
No, we do not hold any examples of this.
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.
Devon County Council does not hold this information.
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.).
Overgrown vegetation can be reported on our ‘Report a Problem’ page or called through to the Customer Service Centre.
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?
We do not hold this information as we don’t ask for people to declare their disability when making a report.
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.
For questions 12 and 13, we do not hold this information as we only hold budget and expenditure information in the financial system for hedge and tree maintenance as a whole. We cannot identify spend against overhanging vegetation and foliage affecting footways.