FOI 434406

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 434406

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 30th September 2025.  Please find below the response to your request:

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request information regarding complaints resulting from the use of fireworks, and incidents investigated, within your area.

For the years 2019 - 2024, please provide the number of and nature of fireworks-related complaints received (for eg noise, use in a public place, anti-social behaviour etc), by month, in the table attached.

For the years 2019 - 2024, please provide the number of and nature of (for eg noise, use in a public place, anti-social behaviour etc) fireworks-related incidents investigated, by month

Reply

Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.

S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”.  For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

The information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format.  There are over 2000 contact records where the record mentions ‘fireworks’.  In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually. Prior to July 2020 records were not kept of every call, noise regarding fireworks disturbances would be redirected to the relevant authority.

In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.

Under s.16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request.

However, In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide the number of contact records by year/month relating to ‘fireworks’ as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests

For the years 2019 - 2024, please provide the number of and nature of fireworks-related complaints received (for eg noise, use in a public place, anti-social behaviour etc), by month, in the table attached.