See answers to previous information requests

I seek copies of any and all information held by Wokingham Borough Council (or accessible to the Council through its contractors and/or their subcontractors) regarding the following:

1. Complaints or concerns raised by any person(s) or department(s) or organisation(s) about
i. mud/puddles;
ii. pavements;
iii. parking;
iv. grass verges;
v. debris,spillage or obstruction on the roads;
vi. tampering with and/or inadequate/poor standards of works carried out to hedges and trees.
and the pursuant investigations into those matters, whether by the Council and/or by other specialists/contractors, and the Council's responses to those complaints or concerns raised.
The relevant departments holding such information are Highways, Cleaner and Greener and Housing, and including any departments which those departments named were previously under, or formed part of.
The relevant period is 1 May 2024 to present.
Enquiries have been carried out with our Highways department, Cleaner & Greener and Housing.
From our Highways department The system used for complaints (Complaints process - https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/complaints/complaints-process) does not provide the level of detail requested. We receive 37 complaint forms on average per month for Highways. It would take 66 hours to review each complaint form and additional time would be required to locate the response and complete any redactions.(Section 12)
Our Housing department have advised we do not keep records of the below in repairs services without manually reviewing every email which would exceed the 18hour time limit, our Housing department receive on average 4500 emails a month. We have been provided Customer Care Team numbers for the below categories.
Our Cleaner and Greener department have advised they would need to manually check their emails which would be approximately 14,000-18,000 for this time period exceeding the cost of compliance. (Section 12) They have advised if the request was narrowed down this may be something that could be provided within the time frame i.e. complaints only however the term ‘complaints or concerns’ is too vague and would require a manual check of every email.
i. mud/puddles;
From our Highways team: In the period 1 May 2024 to 16 Feb 2025, Wokingham Borough Council received 294 reports that referenced “mud” in the text of customer comments. Reports were received via the Report a Problem feature of the council website available at Report a problem. Details of the reports are provided in the spreadsheet supplied with this response. Please note that to ensure the anonymity of members of the public reporting problems, the information provided has been restricted.
From our Highways team: In the period 1 May 2024 to 16 Feb 2025, Wokingham Borough Council received 135 reports that referenced “puddle” in the text of customer comments. Reports were received via the Report a Problem feature of the council website available at Report a problem - https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/roads/report. Details of the reports are provided in the spreadsheet supplied with this response. Please note that to ensure the anonymity of members of the public reporting problems, the information provided has been restricted.
From Housing Customer Care Team: 0
ii. pavements;
From our Highways: In the period 1 May 2024 to 16 Feb 2025, Wokingham Borough Council received 773 reports in the categories “Pavement and Cycleway” and “Damaged Pavement”. Reports were received via the Report a Problem feature of the council website available at Report a problem - https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/roads/report. Details of the reports are provided in the spreadsheet supplied with this response. Please note that to ensure the anonymity of members of the public reporting problems, the information provided has been restricted.
From Housing Customer Care Team: 2
iii. parking;
From our Highways: In the period 1 May 2024 to 16 Feb 2025, Wokingham Borough Council received 353 reports that referenced “parking” in the text of customer comments. Reports were received via the Report a Problem feature of the council website available at Report a problem - https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/roads/report. Details of the reports are provided in the spreadsheet supplied with this response. Please note that to ensure the anonymity of members of the public reporting problems, the information provided has been restricted.
From our Housing Customer Care Team: 13
iv. grass verges;
From our Highways: In the period 1 May 2024 to 16 Feb 2025, Wokingham Borough Council received 30 reports reports in the category “Damaged Verge”. Reports were received via the Report a Problem feature of the council website available at Report a problem - https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/roads/report. Details of the reports are provided in the spreadsheet supplied with this response. Please note that to ensure the anonymity of members of the public reporting problems, the information provided has been restricted.
From our Housing Customer Care Team: 0
v. debris,spillage or obstruction on the roads;
From our Highways: In the period 1 May 2024 to 16 Feb 2025, Wokingham Borough Council received 1965 reports reports in the category “Debris, Spillage or Obstruction on the Road”. Reports were received via the Report a Problem feature of the council website available at Report a problem - https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/roads/report. Details of the reports are provided in the spreadsheet supplied with this response. Please note that to ensure the anonymity of members of the public reporting problems, the information provided has been restricted.
From our Housing Customer Care Team: 0
vi. tampering with and/or inadequate/poor standards of works carried out to hedges and trees.
From our Highways: For the period 1 May 2024 to 16 Feb 2025, it has not been possible to identify any reports to Wokingham Borough Council relating to tampering with and/or inadequate/poor standards of works carried out to hedges and trees. The Report a Problem feature of the council website available at Report a problem - https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/roads/report is intended primarily for the reporting of new problems, rather than follow up communications relating to works already carried out.
From our Housing Customer Care Team: 0