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Registers of collection licences :
Exeter City Council (Devon)

Headings on this page :

1. Links to the Lists of collection licences

• 
  Exeter Cathedral
  Source: Wikimedia and Rudiger Wolk, Munster
  1997 List.doc
• 1998 List.doc
• 1999 List.doc
• 2000 List.doc
• 2001 List.doc
• 2002 List.doc
• 2003 List.doc
• 2004 List.doc
• 2005 List.doc
• 2006 List.doc
• House to House 2007 onwards.doc
• House to House 2008 - 2014.doc

2. The Council

Website: www.exeter.gov.uk  

Status of the Council at August 2010:  The Council is part of Devon's two-tier system.  The upper tier is Devon County Council (whose responsibilities include trading standards).

Exeter was due to become a unitary authority on 1 April 2011.  However, this reorganisation was blocked by the coalition Government in May 2010.

3. Our comments on the Lists (the register of collection licences)

The Lists were sent to us in early July 2010.
We're grateful to the Council's Licensing Department for supplying these documents.
We received them less than three hours after submitting our request!

The Lists are not on the Council's website.

They're word-processed files (Microsoft Word).

The 12 document names displayed above are the original filenames, as supplied.
With the Council's agreement, we've made two changes to the Lists :

• removal of personal details in one place (to protect privacy)
• removal of one confidential comment

We suggest you make allowances for the occasional minor errors (spelling etc) in the Lists - bear in mind that they're "informal" lists intended for internal use.  In other words, we assume the staff compiling them only expected them to be used within the Licensing Department.

With the Lists from 2004, ignore the date in their heading (it gives the current date - not the historical date).

They give the phone number of the Home Office (Whitehall) in their headings.  This is because they were responsible for "Home Office Exemption Orders".   (These are now known as "National Exemption Orders", and they're now the responsibility of the Cabinet Office.)
 

Structure of the Lists:  Each entry line has four components:

• date from / date to / name of organisation / notes
• Examples :
  
  
  "01.07.10 - 30.06.11     Clothes Aid (for NSPCC) H.O. EXEMPTION ORDER"
  "13.09.10 - 25.09.10     SOS Support Ltd (for Children's Hearts)"
• They've used tab characters to align the name-of-organisation column.
   

Notes used in the Lists:  Below are examples
(they're in "quotes" below, with our comments in italics) :

• "H.O. EXEMPTION ORDER" - applies to around 50% of the collections
• With commercial collectors, they've added the beneficiary in brackets thus:
  "(for Great Ormond Street)", "(for Barnados)"
• Geographical area :
  • "(whole of city)", "(Pinhoe, Beacon Heath, Whipton)", "(Topsham only)", "(Industrial Estates only)", "(6pm - 8.30pm: Pinhoe area)"
  • "(routes in file)" - with Exeter Round Table
  • "NB - If Round Table make an application for their Father Christmas Float, make sure routes don't clash. Routes for Lions are in file."
  • "(Collection in pubs)"
• "(prov)", "(TBC)", "conf awaited by letter"
• "Did not take place", "CANCELLED will ring for another date"
• Type of collection :
  • "(direct debit)", "(only direct debit collecting)", "(DD Agency)"
  • "to collect clothing only" eg with Clothes Aid, "(Clothes and Bric a Brac only)"
• "Age Concern (shop)" - for a charity shop presumably
• "Returns received, raised £319.70" - with Exeter West Lions Club

The more recent Lists have more notes than the earlier ones.
 

Periods covered by the Lists :

• All are annual - except the latest one (named "2008 - 2014").
• 1997 to 2005:  These Lists are simple - they just consist of the collections for the year specified.
• 2006 and 2007:  These also have details of collections proposed for future years.
• "2008 - 2014":  This is the latest List.  It seems to comprise :
  • 2½ years of collections which have already taken place - ie 2008, 2009 and 2010 (Jan to June)
  • proposed collections - ie July 2010 to 2014.
     

Of course, the Lists are only a summary of the position - akin to an index.
The Council will have detailed paperwork (and/or electronic records) for each licence application.
 

Which collections are for clothing (rather than for money)? :

• A few entries do specify they're for clothes (and/or other goods).
• With some unspecified entries it's obvious they are clothes
  (eg Clothes Aid, Do not Delay).
• With a lot of entries, it's obvious they're not clothes
  (eg direct debits, Poppy Appeal, Alexandra Rose Day).
• However, there are quite a few entries where it's ambiguous.
   

Controversial clothing collectors in the Lists (with licences) include :

• "African Orphans U.K." (01.11.08 - 30.11.08)
• "SOS Support Ltd (for Children's Hearts)"
• "Intersecond Ltd (for Do not Delay - Lithuanian Breast Cancer Charity)"
   

View of the Exe estuary and Exmouth from a balloon - courtesy of Wikimedia and Steverenouk