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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254 disclosures

  1. St. Mark's Recreation Ground

    1) Please advise the full details regarding any sale of the land forming any part of St. Mark's Recreation Ground from 1988 to the present date. Information requested to include but not limited to: the date of disposal, the purchase price, the purchaser, valuations obtained, the full reports or formal details and TWBC approvals of any sale whether leasehold or freehold including full conditions of sale including any liens imposed on the sale.

    2) Please advise the full details of all expenditure on the Recreation Ground made by TWBC or their contractors including landscaping, drainage works and general maintenance including after any sale.

    Published: 5 February 2026

  2. Trade Union Business

    Please advise:

    1. The details of any office accommodation your organisation provides to staff to carry out trade union business.

    Please include details of:

    * space measured in square feet

    * how much of this space is contained within entirely separate buildings (i.e. occupied solely by staff carrying out trade union business)

    * whether a professional valuation of the market rental value of the space has been sought either in-house or externally, and if so, what the valuation of the space was

    * any charges the council levy for office space given to trade unions.

    2. Do you deduct trade union subscriptions for any of your employees via payroll (sometimes known as the "check off" system)? If so, do you charge a fee to the trade unions concerned for providing this service?

    3. With regard to trade union facility time, please provide the total cost of facility time from your pay bill for the financial year 2024/25 and the budget for the current financial year.

    Please also advise the current number of employees that you fund to be union officials, measured as full time equivalents? (For guidance on definitions please refer to the Government's Transparency Code for local government: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-transparency-code-2015/local-government-transparency-code-2015)

    4. Please advise any estimates for other costs met for those staff on trade union facility time apart from salaries - including travel expenses, office supplies, telephone expenses and energy bills.

    Published: 5 February 2026

  3. Right To First Refusal on RTB homes

    I understand that since August 2005, owners of homes sold under Right To Buy rules within 10 years have had to apply to the council for a right of first refusal. Under this Statutory Instrument: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1917/made I would like to ask how many homeowners have told the council of their intention to sell since the rules came into force on August 10 2005 to the date this request is received. I would like this data broken down by calendar year, if possible. I would also like to ask how many times the council exercised its Right To First Refusal (as under Section 156 A of the Housing Act 1985) for each year between 2005 to the date this request is received, broken down by calendar year. If the data is not available from August 10, 2005, please provide it from as far back as you are able to, to the date this request is received.

    Published: 4 February 2026

  4. Temp accommodation

    1. Please confirm the number of households currently accommodated within all types of temporary accommodation provided under a section 193(2) Housing Act 1996 duty, who were accepted as having said duty owed to them by yourselves in your capacity as a Local Housing Authority prior to the date of 9 November 2012. For the avoidance of any doubt, I request that the above figure include households accommodated per the outlined criteria both within and without the boundaries of the Local Housing Authority district.

    Published: 3 February 2026

  5. CPNs and PSPOs

    CPNs

    1. Please state the number of Community Protection Notices (CPNs) issued by your authority in the periods:

    a. November 2023-October 2024;

    b. November 2024-October 2025.

    Please also state the number of Community Protection Warnings (CPWs) issued within these periods.

    2. If possible, please state the subject of these CPNs/CPWs - for example, by providing the texts, or stating the subject matter of the orders (e.g. Litter, waste, ASB).

    3. Please state the number of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued for the offence of breach of CPN between November 2024-October 2025.

    Please state the offences for which these FPNs were issued.

    PSPOs

    4. Please state the number of Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) currently live within your authority.

    5. Please provide a link to the PSPO texts online.

    If no link is available, please attach the PSPO texts.

    6. Please state the number of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued for the offence of violating a PSPO in the following calendar years:

    - a. 2024

    - b. 2025

    7. Where possible, please state the offences for which these PSPO FPNs were issued (eg begging, alcohol, dog control, dispersal).

    8. Please state whether these PSPO FPNs were issued by a private company (Y/N). If so, please state the name of the company.

    Published: 29 January 2026

  6. FPN's

    1. How many Fixed Penalty Notices have you issued each year since 2023? 2. Could you provide a breakdown of what offences have triggered FPNs each year since 2020, or at least since 2023? 3. How much do you charge per FPN for standard offences such as littering or flytipping? 4. Do you outsource your litter enforcement and if so for how much and who to? 5. How many Public Space Protection Orders have you implemented in the last five years, and for what?

    Published: 27 January 2026

  7. Stray dogs

    Please provide, for the period January 2021 to December 2025: * The number of reported cases of abandoned dogs and/or stray dogs * The total number of abandoned and/or dogs taken in, seized, or otherwise handled by your council, broken down by month * The number of abandoned and/or stray dogs returned to their owner If possible, I would appreciate the data being presented as a year-by-year breakdown

    Published: 26 January 2026

  8. SWEP activations in summer 2025

    Could you please send me the following information regarding Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's use of the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) during summer 2025. * How many times Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) was activated between the dates 31 May 2025 and 1 September 2025, inclusive. * For each activation, the exact date range the SWEP was active between, inclusive (e.g. if the SWEP was activated on 10 June 2025 and ended on 14 June 2025, the date range would be 10/06/2025-14/06/2025). * For each activation, the reason why the SWEP was activated. * For each activation, a list of actions the council took to support people while the SWEP was active, including any actions that were taken to support people in social rented housing owned by the council. * A copy of your latest Severe Weather Emergency Protocol policy document, or a link to where a copy can be found on your website.

    Published: 26 January 2026

  9. Private rented sector enforcement actions (Jan 2020 to Dec 2025)

    I am writing to request information held by you about enforcement actions taken in relation to private landlords and privately rented homes. 1. Information requested Please provide, for the period 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2025 inclusive, a month-by-month dataset showing the number of enforcement actions undertaken against private landlords and/or in respect of privately rented dwellings. For each month, please provide the following fields (as held in your records): A. Month (YYYY-MM) B. Enforcement action type (using your own internal categories or statutory power labels) C. Reason/category for the action (using whatever category/issue code you use for tracking) D. Outcome/status of the action (using your tracking outcomes, e.g. complied, appealed, revoked, conviction, civil penalty issued, penalty paid/unpaid, works in default completed, etc.) E. Count of actions (integer) If your system records an action at property-level or case-level, please count each recorded enforcement action instance. If multiple notices/orders are recorded under a single case, please count each distinct action as recorded in your system. 2. Scope and definitions (to reduce ambiguity) For avoidance of doubt, by “enforcement actions” I mean any formal action taken under housing, public health, licensing, planning, or related statutory powers that you record as enforcement against a private landlord or a privately rented property. This includes (where held) but is not limited to: • Housing Act 2004 actions such as Improvement Notices, Prohibition Orders, Hazard Awareness Notices, Emergency Remedial Action, Emergency Prohibition Orders, and related notices/orders. • HMO licensing enforcement actions (mandatory/additional/selective licensing), including licence refusal/revocation, civil penalties, prosecutions, and any recorded enforcement notices relating to licensing breaches. • Works in default, rent repayment order applications initiated by the authority, and any other formal PRS enforcement powers you record. If you use a narrower operational definition of “enforcement action” for reporting, please apply your standard definition and explain it briefly.

    Published: 26 January 2026

  10. Solar photovoltaics (PV)

    I am researching solar photovoltaic (PV) development and wish to make the following request under the Freedom of Information Act.

    Q1 On land and building assets that are owned or controlled

    * by the authority, how much solar PV capacity in kilowatt peak (kWp) has been installed? (*"controlled" means where the authority has management control of a site's facilities and utilities, such as under a long-term lease)

    I would like the response for this to be separated into four categories:

    * Solar PV capacity owned by the authority:

    * Solar PV capacity owned by a community group:

    * Solar PV capacity owned by another party, that is not a community group, where a power purchase agreement (PPA) exists to supply the authority:

    * Any other solar PV capacity owned by another party:

    * If an exact figure for installed solar PV in kWp cannot be obtained, please make an estimate of a minimum value that is known with confidence.

    For example, “estimated – at least 100kWp”.

    Q2 This question asks for information about procurement of solar PV goods and services in the past three years, where a contract has been awarded between 1 January 2023 and the date of this request.

    Could you supply me with the following information please: I have also put Q2 into an Excel template (attached to this email).

    Please use this to return to me, if possible. Please complete these columns for each procurement activity (add more if necessary) No.

    Question Response type List 1 2 1 Procurement route Select from list Framework;

    Dynamic Purchasing System;

    Open Tender; Restricted Procedure;

    Direct Award;

    Other (Please specify) 1a If "other", please specify:

    Text entry 2 What was procured Select from list Design, supply and installation of solar PV panels and related equipment (Design and Build);

    Supply of solar PV panels and related equipment only;

    Supply and installation of solar PV panels and related equipment (separate to design work);

    Installation costs only (separate to supply of equipment or design);

    Design or advisory services only;

    Operations and maintenance only; Other (please specify) 2a If "other", please specify:

    Text entry 3 Procurement award date

    Text entry 4 Final value of the contract (GBP). (Final amount claimed by the supplier. Where a contract is still being delivered, please supply the estimated total spend by the contract end)

    Text entry 5 Contract awarded to (Supplier name)

    Text entry 6 Companies house company number of supplier

    Text entry 7 Kilowatt peak (kWp) of solar PV installed

    Text entry 8 Type of solar PV development Select from list Roof-mounted; Ground-mounted; Solar car park canopy; Other (please specify)

    8a If "other", please specify:

    Text entry 9 Commissioning / handover date

    Text entry 10 Project location (Site name and address)

    Text entry 11 Project location (Post code)

    Text entry 12 What category best describes the type of site? Select from list Residential dwellings; Commercial, business and services (including offices); Industrial or storage; Schools; Other public services, leisure and community; Agricultural; Car park; Land; Other (please specify)

    12a If "other", please specify:

    Text entry 13 Was the project this contract relates to funded wholly or in part by an external grant? Select from list Yes - Wholly funded with grant; Yes - Partially funded with grant; No

    13a If "yes", please give the value of grant funding (GBP)

    Text entry 13b If "yes", please give the grant funding source

    Text entry 14 Was the project this contract relates to funded or financed from any other sources external to the local authority, other than a grant? (for example, loans, bonds, other equity investors) Select from list Yes; No

    14a If yes, please give the value of external funding or finance (GBP) Text entry

    14b If yes, please give the source of external funding or finance Text entry

    15 Please give a description of the contract.

    Please include any details included in the contract value that are not solar PV or related equipment (for example, battery energy storage or additional works to a roof).

    Published: 23 January 2026