Freedom of information (FOI) releases from TWBC

This is a disclosure log of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's responses to freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) requests that might be of wider public interest.

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365 disclosures

  1. Unspent Section 106 Affordable Housing Contributions

    1. The total value of Section 106 commuted sums currently held by the council that are earmarked for the provision of affordable housing, as of the most recent available date. 2. For each individual commuted sum held, please provide: (a) the planning application reference, (b) the development name and location, (c) the date the contribution was received, (d) the amount, and (e) any deadline or clawback date by which the sum must be spent or returned to the developer. 3. The total value of Section 106 affordable housing contributions that have been spent in each of the last five financial years (2020/21 to 2024/25), and what each was spent on (e.g., number of affordable units delivered, grants to housing associations, land acquisition). 4. Whether any Section 106 affordable housing contributions have been returned to developers in the last five years due to non-expenditure within the agreed timeframe, and if so, the total value returned. 5. The total value of all Section 106 contributions (not just affordable housing) currently held by the council, broken down by category of obligation (e.g., affordable housing, education, highways, open space, health). If providing information for every individual agreement would exceed the cost limit, please provide the aggregate totals requested and a summary of the 10 largest individual commuted sums currently held.

    Published: 14 August 2026

  2. Pavement Condition and Repair Data

    I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the following information: 1. The total number of pavement or footpath defect reports (including trip hazards, broken slabs, uneven surfaces, and missing tactile paving) received by the council in each of the last three financial years (2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25), broken down by ward where possible. 2. The total number of pavement defects repaired in each of those years, and the average time from report to completed repair. 3. The total expenditure on pavement maintenance and repair in each of the last three financial years, broken down between (a) the council's own estate (town centre, car parks, council-owned land) and (b) any contributions to or arrangements with KCC Highways for adopted footways. 4. Whether the council has undertaken or commissioned any assessment of DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) or Equality Act 2010 compliance for pavements and pedestrian crossings in the town centre. If so, please provide a copy of any assessment reports or action plans. 5. The total number of personal injury claims or complaints received relating to pavement condition in each of the last three financial years, and the total compensation paid. 6. Whether the council maintains a register or database of known pavement defects awaiting repair. If so, the current total number of outstanding defects. Please provide the information in electronic format where possible.

    Published: 14 August 2026

  3. CCTV cameras

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information regarding public CCTV cameras owned, operated or maintained by the council. Please provide the following information as of the date this request is processed: 1. The total number of public CCTV cameras owned or operated by the council. 2. The number of CCTV cameras that are currently out of service or non-operational. 3) Without identifying the location of the non-operational cameras, please provide a list of the five currently non-operational which have been out of operation for the longest period of time, in years/days/hours. 4. The total amount spent by the council on the repair, replacement and maintenance of its public CCTV cameras in each of the following financial years: * 2022/23 * 2023/24 * 2024/25 * 2025/26 * 2026/27 to date

    Published: 12 August 2026

  4. Litter reports in parks

    For the period 1 January 2021 to 31 July 2026 inclusive, please provide the number of reports or service requests received concerning litter or rubbish in council-owned or council-managed parks and public open spaces. Please provide the figures broken down by individual park/site and calendar year, ideally in the following format: Park/site name | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 1 Jan–31 Jul 2026 Where your system already records whether the report relates specifically to a playground or children's play area, please also indicate this or provide the number of those reports separately. Please use the park/site name and categories as they are recorded in your existing system. I am not asking the council to manually review free-text descriptions to determine whether an incident occurred within a playground. I do not require copies of reports, complainant details, photographs or descriptions of individual incidents. If records are not held for the full period requested, please provide the information that is held and state the earliest date available.

    Published: 12 August 2026

  5. Housing Compliance & Statutory Certification Data

    This request relates to all residential accommodation owned, managed, commissioned, leased, or overseen by the council, including, where applicable: - Council housing - Temporary accommodation - Emergency accommodation - Supported accommodation - Sheltered housing - Extra care housing - Independent living schemes - Care homes - Residential care homes - Nursing homes - Children's residential homes - Accommodation for looked-after children - Supported accommodation for young people (including under-18s, where applicable) - Homeless accommodation - Hostels - Refuge accommodation - Housing association properties managed on the council's behalf - Any other residential accommodation for which the council has responsibility for compliance, inspection, maintenance, or statutory safety obligations. We would be grateful if you could provide the following information, where available: 1. Housing Portfolio - The approximate number of residential properties within the council's housing stock or management portfolio. 2. Current Compliance Please provide the number of properties currently holding a valid: - Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) - Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) - Gas Safety Certificate (where applicable) - Fire Risk Assessment (communal areas/buildings) - Fire Risk Assessment (individual dwellings, where undertaken) - Legionella Risk Assessment - Damp and mould inspection or survey records - Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) inspection or assessment records 3. Compliance Status Please provide the number of properties currently identified as: - Overdue for EPC renewal - Overdue for EICR inspection - Overdue for gas safety certification - Requiring fire safety remedial works - Affected by damp and mould concerns - Containing Category 1 or Category 2 hazards identified under HHSRS assessments 4. Outsourced Services Please confirm whether the council currently procures or outsources any of the following: - EPC assessments - Fire Risk Assessments - Legionella Risk Assessments - Electrical inspections - Gas safety inspections - Damp and mould surveys - HHSRS inspections - Housing compliance consultancy 5. Procurement Information Where applicable, please provide: - Current contractor(s) or framework provider(s) - Contract start date - Contract expiry date - Estimated contract value (if available) - Planned procurement or renewal date (if known) - Supplier registration portal or procurement framework used Approximate figures are acceptable where exact figures are unavailable.

    Published: 12 August 2026

  6. Council-Owned Green Spaces and Land Transactions

    1. A list of all green spaces (parks, recreation grounds, allotments, commons, woodland, nature reserves, amenity green space) currently owned or managed by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, including: (a) the name and location of each space, (b) the approximate area in hectares, and (c) any formal designation (e.g., Local Green Space, Village Green, SSSI, Local Nature Reserve, conservation area). 2. A list of all land transactions (sales, disposals, or transfers) involving council-owned land in the last five financial years (2020/21 to 2024/25), including: (a) the location and area of land, (b) whether the land was green space or had any environmental designation, (c) the sale price or terms, (d) the purchaser, and (e) the stated reason for disposal. 3. A list of all sites submitted to the current Call for Sites process (Local Plan Review 2029-2044) that involve land currently designated as green space, common land, allotment, or Village Green. For each, please state: (a) the site reference, (b) the location and area, (c) the proposer, and (d) the proposed use. 4. The total number of Assets of Community Value (ACVs) currently registered in the borough that relate to green spaces, and the date each was listed.

    Published: 12 August 2026

  7. Permanent play equipment

    I am seeking information about permanent play equipment. I would like: 1. A list of playgrounds you are responsible for (please say in which year you became responsible for each playground); 2. To know how many playgrounds you were responsible for in (a) 2016, (b) 2021 and (c) 2026; 3. To know if you are planning to open or close any playgrounds in the medium term, and if so, where; 4. To know the total capital spend on permanent playground equipment in each financial year since 2015/16*; 5. To know how much capital spend you have planned for permanent playground equipment in your medium term financial plan (please specify the year ending). *In (4), I am seeking a figure for permanent playground equipment including both upgrades and new equipment

    Published: 11 August 2026

  8. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Units

    1. Has the authority adopted any policy, guidance, or formal position relating to the preferred location of off-site Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units? 2. If the answer to Question 1 is yes, does the authority require or normally expect off-site BNG units to be located: • within the local planning authority area; • within the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) area; or • within another specified geographic area (please specify). 3. How many Biodiversity Net Gain habitat banks registered on the national Biodiversity Gain Sites Register are located within the authority's administrative area, according to the information held by the authority? (Please state the number as at the date of your response.) 4. Has the authority established, or is it in the process of establishing, a Biodiversity Net Gain habitat bank on land that it owns or controls? If yes, please state how many. 5. Does the council have an adopted or emerging policy which requires above 10% biodiversity net gain? If so, please specify whether this is on all sites or particular types of sites.

    Published: 5 August 2026

  9. FRT and AI video analytics

    I'm seeking information about the council's use of facial recognition and AI video analytics technologies. For the purposes of this request, please use the following definitions: * Facial recognition technology (FRT) means any software or system that processes facial images to generate biometric templates for the purpose of identifying, verifying or matching individuals — whether applied in real time to live feeds or retrospectively to recorded footage. * AI video analytics means any software applied to CCTV imagery that automatically detects, classifies, counts, tracks, searches or flags people, vehicles, objects or behaviours. This includes, but is not limited to: person and object detection or classification; people counting and crowd density; loitering, "anti-social behaviour" or aggression detection; intrusion and line-crossing detection; abandoned-object detection; fly-tipping detection; weapon detection; appearance or attribute search (e.g. searching footage by clothing colour); vehicle make, model or colour recognition; automatic number plate recognition (ANPR); and video summarisation or forensic search tools such as BriefCam or Fusus or equivalent. Please report ANPR separately from other analytics. Questions 1. The total number of cameras in the council's CCTV estate whose feeds can be processed using FRT in real-time. 2. The total number of cameras in the council's CCTV estate whose feeds can be processed using AI video analytics in real-time. Please provide a breakdown of analytical functions if available and, as requested above, report ANPR cameras separately from other types of analytics. 3. The total number of cameras in the council's CCTV estate whose feeds can be processed using FRT retrospectively. 4. The total number of cameras in the council's CCTV estate whose feeds can be processed using AI video analytics retrospectively. Please provide a breakdown of analytical functions if available and, as requested above, report ANPR cameras separately from other types of analytics. 5. For each FRT or AI video analytics system covered by questions 1 to 4: the name of the supplier; the name of the product or system; the contract start and end dates and total contract value. 6. Any Data Protection Impact Assessment(s) prepared in relation to the council's use of FRT or AI video analytics. If no DPIA is held, please confirm this. 7. Any document held by the council that assesses or reports on the accuracy, error rate, false match rate or differential performance by ethnicity, sex or age of any FRT or AI video analytics system referred to above. This includes documentation produced by the council, by the supplier (including product documentation, technical specifications and marketing material making performance claims), or by any third party. If no such document is held, please confirm this. 8. Any policy, standard operating procedure, operational guidance or staff training material governing the council's use of FRT or AI video analytics, including provisions on retention, human review of automated outputs, watchlist compilation, and audit.

    Published: 5 August 2026

  10. Children’s playground provision and investment

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and/or the Environmental Information Regulations, as applicable, please provide the following recorded information concerning publicly accessible equipped children’s playgrounds owned, managed or maintained by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. For this request, “children’s playground” means a publicly accessible outdoor play area containing fixed play equipment primarily intended for children. Please exclude school playgrounds, privately owned facilities, standalone outdoor gyms, standalone skateparks and standalone multi-use games areas, unless they form part of an equipped children’s playground included in the council’s records. If the council uses a different recorded definition, please answer using that definition and briefly explain it. Please provide:

    1. Current playground provision The number of equipped children’s playgrounds currently owned, managed or maintained by the council, and the date on which this figure was correct. 2. Openings and closures For each completed financial year from 2021/22 to 2025/26: a. The number of equipped children’s playgrounds opened. b. The number permanently closed. Please do not count temporary closures for maintenance or refurbishment as permanent closures. If annual figures are not held for the full period, please provide the years that are available and state which years are not held. 3. Playground expenditure For each financial year from 2021/22 to 2025/26, please provide the recorded figure held by the council. a. Recorded revenue expenditure on the inspection, routine maintenance and repair of equipped children’s playgrounds. b. Recorded capital expenditure on the creation, replacement or major refurbishment of equipped children’s playgrounds. Please provide revenue and capital expenditure separately where possible. If playground expenditure cannot be separated from a wider parks or leisure budget, please provide the relevant figure as held and briefly explain what it includes. We are not asking the council to undertake a new calculation. Where the 2025/26 figure has not been finalised or audited, please provide the latest provisional figure and identify it as provisional. 4. Inclusive playground provision The number of council-maintained playgrounds currently recorded or designated by the council as having inclusive play facilities. If readily available, please provide the definition or criteria used by the council to classify a playground as inclusive. If the council does not maintain this classification, please state that the information is not held. 5. Accessible equipment The number of council-maintained playgrounds currently recorded as containing at least one item of accessible play equipment. If readily available, please provide the definition or criteria used to classify equipment as accessible. If the council does not maintain this classification, please state that the information is not held. 6. Playgrounds awaiting repair As of the date the information is extracted: a. The number of individual playgrounds affected by an open or outstanding equipment repair. b. The date on which this figure was correct.

    Published: 5 August 2026