Freedom of information

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 gives the public access to information held by public authorities, unless there are good reasons to keep it confidential. It does this in two ways by:

• obliging public authorities to publish certain information about their activities
• entitling members of the public to request information from public authorities

Our aim is to publish as much as possible on our website so that you can access it quickly without having to make a request. You can search our entire website using the box at the top of each page.

Additionally, regularly updated and frequently requested information is published on our Council data pages.

If you can’t find the information you want on our website or on our Council data pages, you can submit a written request to us for the information.

Before making a FOI request

Before you send us a request, check whether we already publish the information you are looking for. Information already accessible by other means is exempt from disclosure under the Act.

Some information may not be held by Colchester City Council but may instead be held by Colchester Borough Homes or Essex County Council.

Information held by Essex County Council

The following areas are the responsibility of Essex County Council and requests covering these areas should be directed to essex.gov.uk.

• Highways (including pavements and street lighting)
• Schools and children's services
• Social services / welfare
• Supporting people 
• On-street parking charge notices, traffic wardens
• Asylum seekers
• Trading Standards
• Transport

Demographic and population statistics for the whole of Essex can be found at Essex Open Data.