CUSOP PARISH COUNCIL
Response to Freedom of Information Request, request dated 16th April 2025, response dated 15th May 2025:
1 ) Has the Parish Council an extant strategic policy for maintaining /operating lighting in the administrative area of Cusop? (If yes please provide details of the policy or link to said policy)
Answer: The Council has no such policy.
2) How many lamps, lamp posts do Cusop Parish Council currently provide and maintain within the designated administrative boundary of Cusop? (Please provide specific details of such lamp posts and their specific location in Cusop)
Answer: Two footpath lights – at Hardwicke Close, and its junction with Hardwicke Road. They are identified as such on the Herefordshire Council map which can be found here: https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/roads-1/report-faulty-street-light
3) Is Cusop Parish Council responsible for maintaining/repairing any footpaths that have a lamp post/light installed which are the responsibility of said Cusop Parish Council (subject to the relevant provisions of the Highways Act 1980 or any re-enactment/amendment of said Act thereof)? (Please provide specific details of the location of said footpaths)
Answer: No. Cusop Parish Council is not responsible for maintaining footpaths on either Hardwicke Road or Hardwicke Close.
4) Subject to the response to question 2 above what is the annual cost for maintaining/ repairing/operating lighting by Cusop Parish Council which it has specific responsibilities for (please provide details of such costs)?
Answer: The cost in the last financial year (2024-25) was £816.00 for a light in the Council’s ownership. It is important to clarify the word “responsibilities.” There is no obligation on parish councils to provide street lighting although the Parish Councils Act 1957 (s3) provides that a parish may “for the purpose of lighting the roads and other public places in the parish….—(a) provide and maintain such lamps, lamp posts and other materials and apparatus as they think necessary.” A road is generally any highway and any other road to which the public has access (Road Traffic Act, 1988, s. 192)
5) Please confirm the date Cusop Parish Council installed and/or became responsible for the lamp post located on the pavement of the B4348 road (Hardwicke Road)?
Answer: The original agreement with SWALEC for the installation of lights dates from 1957. By 1969 it was minuted that the Council operated 18 lamps, up from six in 1965.
It is not clear from the minutes when the installations in question were made. The light at Hardwicke Close is shown on the map of the existing installation appended to the scheme to modernise lights in June 1995 (appendix A).
The full series of Minutes from 1957 to the close of 2010 is available in the County Archive see index entry BZ1/1/ii to be found at https://archive-catalogue.herefordshire.gov.uk/records/BZ1/1/ii
6) Subject to the response to question 5 please can it be confirmed the reason(s) why Cusop Parish Council installed and /or became responsible for the lamp post located on a Herefordshire Council pavement (B4348)? (Please confirm details of the specific reasons why Cusop Parish Council is responsible for this lamp post)
It is not possible to reconstruct the decision from the minutes.
The lights were subsequently transferred to Herefordshire Council, with the exception of the two lights that remain, which Herefordshire Council refused to take.
An examination of the minutes shows that in September 2000 Herefordshire Council indicated that it would take on responsibility for all lights except one in an unadopted road, and one which needed testing. October 2000 minutes show that this was the post on Hardwicke Road.
The Parish Council ceased to pay electricity bills for lighting by July 2001, and minutes for March 2002 note Herefordshire has now accepted responsibility for the lights, as discussed.
The full series of Minutes from 1957 is available in the County Archive see index entry BZ1/1/ii to be found at https://archive-catalogue.herefordshire.gov.uk/records/BZ1/1/ii