Aside from those acting in an official capacity for a government institution, names have been redacted from this email thread, for privacy reasons.
We have added highlights, and footnotes at the end, to draw out key points that you might find useful.
2026-05-22, from a Credenhill resident to Herefordshire Council’s Information Governance Team
To: Information Governance Team
Subject: EIR Request: Credenhill Parish ‘Call for Sites’ (2025–2045 Local Plan)
Under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 please provide the following regarding land submissions in the Credenhill Parish:
1. Identity: The names of applicants/agents for all land submitted to the West of Credenhill village.
1. Mapping: Reference numbers and boundary maps for these submissions.
1. Linked Entities: Confirmation of any submissions made by James Spreckley Ltd, Quercus PRF LLP (OC346390), H. & R. Ecroyd Ltd., or family Trusts.
Public Interest: Disclosure is essential to facilitate a comparative heritage assessment between current proposals and plan-led alternatives, as per the Parish Council’s stated Place Shaping policy.
A pre-application consultation is currently underway for a speculative 250-home development north of Granary Cottages. (See attachment for context). The developer has claimed a ‘presumption for development’ on heritage-sensitive land while no comparative information on alternative sites was presented. Disclosure is necessary to allow the community and the Parish Council to perform a comparative assessment of heritage impact and to ensure transparency in the planning process.
We look forward to receiving this information within 20 working days.
2026-06-01, from Herefordshire Council’s Information Governance Team, to the resident
The Call for Sites study is currently ongoing and therefore we have determined that the requested information is excepted under Regulation 12 (4) (d) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 – material in the course of completion, unfinished documents and incomplete data.
The requested information is a technical, non-policy document created by local councils to identify sites that are potentially suitable, available, and achievable for housing or employment development. Some sites have been resubmitted from previous years and we will need to refresh assessments on them. The assessment is an important source of evidence to inform plan-making. However, the study is incomplete, and internal assessments are required from service areas within the Council before a view can be formed and eventually published.
This exception is subject to a public interest test and accordingly I have weighed the reasons for and against disclosure in the public interest as follows:
The public interest in disclosure:
Openness and transparency relating to the Call for Sites study.
The public interest in not disclosing the information:
The Call for Sites study is, at the time of writing, ongoing, and as such the decision making process is not complete. Material still in the course of completion includes information created as part of the process of formulating and developing policy, when that process is not complete.
Whilst this is ongoing, Herefordshire Council should be afforded safe space away from public scrutiny to review information and to collate any relevant information for the current Call for Sites study, and providing incomplete data at this time would hamper that decision making process.Once the Call for Sites study is complete a Candidate Sites Register that identifies which locations are being considered as options for growth or not, will be made publically available on the council’s website in approximately 6-12 months time.
Taking the above into consideration we consider the balance in favour of not disclosing the information at this stage outweighs the reasons for disclosure.
Please be encouraged to resubmit your request in 12 months and we will direct you to where it is publically available.
2026-06-09, from the resident to Herefordshire Council’s Information Governance Team
Dear Information Governance Team,
We note that the link provided for the Internal Review Procedure appears to lead to a blank page, therefore we are submitting this request for internal review directly by email.
We are requesting an internal review of the response to EIR2026/01219.
We do not believe Regulation 12(4)(d) has been correctly applied to all of the information requested.
Our request sought the identities of site submitters, site reference numbers, boundary maps and confirmation of whether certain companies or trusts submitted land in Credenhill Parish. These appear to be completed submissions provided to the Council, rather than unfinished assessments or draft policy documents.
The refusal relies on the fact that the Call-for-Sites study is ongoing. However, it does not explain why the requested information itself constitutes material in the course of completion, nor why partial disclosure could not be provided.
We also believe the public interest test gives insufficient weight to the strong public interest in transparency and public participation in planning matters. A pre-application consultation is currently underway for a significant housing proposal affecting heritage-sensitive land, and disclosure of alternative site submissions would assist informed community engagement and comparative assessment.
As part of the review, we would be grateful if the Council could specifically address:
- Why submitted site details, reference numbers and boundary maps are considered unfinished material under Regulation 12(4)(d).
- Whether partial disclosure was considered and, if so, why it was rejected.
- Why confirmation of whether named companies or trusts submitted land could not be disclosed separately.
I look forward to the outcome of the internal review.
Please confirm receipt of this request.
Kind regards,