Cherwell District Council
This council has the functions of a district level council. Councils of this type are usually the primary planning authority and council tax billing authority and have responsibility for, among other things, refuse collection, housing, food safety inspections, dog wardens, parks and street cleaning as well as cemeteries and crematoria. We at WhatDoTheyKnow have noticed that Cherwell District Council have been responding to requests for information by saying: "Please can we ask that you use our standard form to make your request. This can be located on our website..." 



Requests made via WhatDoTheyKnow are valid. There should be no-need to re-send your request via the council's web-form. If you don't get a response within 20 working days you can refer the matter to the Information Commissioner. 



We are tracking request threads where requesters have been directed to the council's web-form and they can be viewed via this link.  Do let us know if you are aware of further examples. 


We have written about the issue of public bodies attempting to switch to only accepting FOI requests via their own webforms.