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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358 disclosures

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. Licensing and ACV Data

    1. The total number of licensed taxi and private hire vehicle drivers in the Tunbridge Wells borough, and the number who have a current enhanced DBS check on file. Please also state the date of the most recent DBS compliance audit and the compliance rate. 2. A complete list of all Assets of Community Value (ACV) currently registered in the Tunbridge Wells borough, including: (a) the name and address of each asset, (b) the date of listing, (c) the nominating organisation, and (d) whether any moratorium has been triggered. 3. The number of animal breeding establishment licences currently issued in the Tunbridge Wells borough, broken down by type (dogs, cats, other). 4. The number of planning applications received in the last three years for change of use from A4/sui generis (drinking establishment) to C3 (residential) or any other use class, and the outcomes of those applications.

    Published: 4 August 2026

  5. Temporary accommodation data - out of area

    I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 specifically related to the number of households placed out of area by your local authority (LA) in temporary accommodation (TA) over specific timeframes. Please provide the following single-year totals for FY 2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26 and April 2026 - June 30 2026 1. Households placed out-of-area in TA a) Total number of households your council accommodated in out-of-area TA at any point during the year; and b) Of (a), the number of households with children. 2. Section 208 notifications (totals only) a) Total number of Section 208 (out of district) notifications sent by your council during the year (relating to your out-of-area placements); and b) Total number of Section 208 notifications received from other authorities during the year (relating to households they placed into TA within your area, also name the council who received the notification from). 3. Cost to the council of out-of-area TA (totals only) a) Total gross expenditure by your council on out-of-area TA during the year; and b) If your accounts/reporting hold it without manual casework: total income/recoveries attributable to out-of-area TA during the year (however recorded in your systems), and the resulting net cost (gross minus income/recoveries). If (b) is not held in a way that can be attributed specifically to out-of-area TA, please state “not held”.

    Published: 4 August 2026

  6. Compensation for damage caused by council-owned trees

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide the following information concerning claims alleging that trees owned by the council, or situated on council-owned land, caused subsidence or other damage to property. Please include claims handled by the council’s insurers where this information is held by or on behalf of the council. For each of the financial years 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, please provide: 1. The number of claims received during that financial year. 2. The total amount paid in compensation or settlement during that financial year.

    Published: 31 July 2026

  7. Fly Tipping

    Please could you provide the following information relating to fly-tipping within areas that fall under Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's authority for the period 1 June 2016 to 30 June 2026: * The total number of fly-tipping reports received. * The total number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued. * The total number of prosecutions commenced. * The total number of fines imposed by the courts following prosecution, where this information is held. Please provide this information broken down by: * Year; and * Month, if this is readily available. If held, please also provide a breakdown of the location type where the reported fly-tipping incidents occurred (for example: parks, highways, commercial land, private residential property, public open spaces, or any other categories you use).

    Published: 31 July 2026

  8. Street lighting

    I would like to request information regarding street lighting maintenance, reports, and replacement timelines within your local authority area. Specifically, please provide answers and data for the following questions for the financial year 2025/6. 1) How many total individual reports or notifications of non-functioning, damaged, or faulty street lights (or bulbs/lanterns requiring replacement) were received by the council? 2) How many of these reports resulted in a complete bulb/lantern replacement versus a full column (post) replacement? 3) What was the average time taken (in calendar days or working days) from the initial report being logged to a field technician attending/replacing a faulty bulb or lantern unit? 4) What was the longest recorded single delay (in days) to repair/replace a reported street light bulb during this period?

    Published: 31 July 2026

  9. Chinese CCTV cameras

    I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information.

    Please can you tell me how many CCTV cameras the council operates and how many of these are produced by Chinese companies. Please can you show this as two figures.

    Please also provide the total number of the council’s CCTV cameras that use either live or retrospective facial recognition and how many of these are produced by Chinese companies.

    If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.

    Published: 30 July 2026

  10. Planning applications for data centres (last 3 years)

    I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, whichever you consider applicable.

    My request concerns planning applications relating to data centres — including data storage or data processing facilities, whether new build, change of use, conversion or extension — within the area covered by your authority.

    For the three-year period from 1st January 2023 to 21 July 2026 inclusive, please provide:

    1. The total number of planning applications received/validated that relate to data centres.

    2. A breakdown of those applications by outcome: a) granted/approved; b) refused; c) withdrawn; d) still pending/awaiting determination.

    Where possible, I would also be grateful for a list of the relevant applications showing, for each one: the planning reference number, the site address, the date received, the current status, and (where decided) the decision and decision date.

    As data centres may not be recorded under a single category, I appreciate you may need to identify relevant applications from the description or use class (for example B8 or sui generis) — please interpret "data centre" reasonably and note any assumptions you make.

    I'm happy to receive the information electronically, ideally as a spreadsheet or within the body of an email. If any part of this request is unclear, or if you expect the cost of compliance to exceed the appropriate limit, please contact me so that I can refine or narrow it rather than have it refused.

    Published: 30 July 2026