FOI request (FOIR-745403887)

Costs and incidents relating to removal of unauthorised flags

Requested Mon 01 September 2025
Responded Thu 11 September 2025

For the period from 1 July 2025 to the latest date for which records are held at the time of your search (please state the end date used), please provide:

1. The total recorded spend incurred by the Council in removing unauthorised flags from public land or the highway, broken down (if held) by: staff time/recharge rates, contractor costs, vehicles/materials, disposal, overtime.

2. The number of incidents/jobs where unauthorised flags were removed, with date and ward or postcode sector for each (no exact addresses required).

3. The job/incident category codes and cost centre/recharge codes used for these removals (for example, fly-posting/illegal signage/unauthorised banner).

4. The current schedule of rates (or equivalent) used by the Council/its contractor for removal of illegal signage/flags.

5. Any policy/guidance/SOP in force during the period for identifying and removing unauthorised flags, including the legal basis (for example, Highways Act 1980 s132/Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007).

If you do not hold a discrete 'flag' category, please extract cases recorded under flyposting/illegal signage/unauthorised banners where the free-text notes contain 'flag', 'Union Jack', 'St George’s Cross', 'England flag' (or combinations thereof) for the period.

If the request would exceed the appropriate cost limit, please:

- Provide items (1)–(2) as aggregated totals for the period.

- Provide (3)–(5) in full.

- Advise what shorter date range or narrower category would be disclosable within the limit.

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Response

Hastings Borough Council holds no information in respect of this request.

Flags on the highway are the responsibility of East Sussex County Council:

https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk