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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433 disclosures

  1. Disabled Facilities Grant allocation, spend and carry-forward

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide the following information about Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) for each of the financial years 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, with a year-by-year breakdown: 1. The DFG allocation the council received (including any in-year top-ups). 2. The total DFG spend in the year. 3. The amount of DFG funding carried forward into the following year, and the total unspent DFG balance held at 31 March. 4. The value of grants approved but not yet paid at 31 March (committed spend). 5. The number of DFGs completed, and the number with a value over £15,000 and over £30,000. I am happy to receive the information as a spreadsheet or in electronic form.

    Published: 12 November 2026

  2. EIR request - Section 106 and CIL receipts held for open space and green infrastructure

    This is an information request regarding Section 106 and CIL receipts held for open space and green infrastructure Please include the following information for the following years 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 * The total value of Section 106 contributions held by the authority but not spent at the end of each financial year. * Of that total, the value held for open space purposes (as defined below). * The total value of Community Infrastructure Levy receipts held but not yet spent at the end of each financial year requested, and the value of that total allocated to open space purposes in your current Infrastructure List or equivalent. * The date of receipt of the oldest Section 106 contribution for open space purposes that remains unspent, and its value. * For each financial year, the value of Section 106 contributions repaid to developers because the time limit for spending them expired, and the value of that which was for open space purposes. * For each financial year, the value of Section 106 and CIL money actually spent on open space purposes. By “open space”, I mean parks, public gardens, play areas, playing fields, allotments, woodland, nature reserves, green corridors and any other green or blue space intended for public access, including anything your authority categorises as “green infrastructure”, “open space”, “play”, “recreation” or “biodiversity/nature”.

    Published: 12 November 2026

  3. Allotments

    As of October 2026, please can you tell me:

    1.) How many plots are available for each of these sites: Barnetts Wood Burslem Road Charity Farm Cunningham Road Eridge Road Ferrars Hilbert Recreation Ground Hilbert Road Reynolds Lane Sandhurst Road Woodlands

    2.) How many people are on the waiting list of each of these allotments Barnetts Wood Burslem Road Charity Farm Cunningham Road Eridge Road Ferrars Hilbert Recreation Ground Hilbert Road Reynolds Lane Sandhurst Road Woodlands

    3.) How long is the average wait time for each of these allotments Barnetts Wood Burslem Road Charity Farm Cunningham Road Eridge Road Ferrars Hilbert Recreation Ground Hilbert Road Reynolds Lane Sandhurst Road Woodlands

    4a.) How many of these allotments have their waiting lists closed to further applications Barnetts Wood Burslem Road Charity Farm Cunningham Road Eridge Road Ferrars Hilbert Recreation Ground Hilbert Road Reynolds Lane Sandhurst Road Woodlands

    4b.) And of the allotments that have their waiting lists closed for more applications, how long is that for, for each of those allotments.

    Published: 12 November 2026

  4. Independent viability reviews commissioned 24 April – 23 October 2026

    For every planning application on which the authority commissioned, instructed or received an independent review of a viability assessment (including reviews of financial viability assessments, viability appraisals, and updated or revised reviews) where the instruction or commission is dated between 24 April 2026 and 23 October 2026 inclusive, please provide a single table showing: (a) the planning application reference number; (b) the name of the organisation that carried out the review; (c) the fee for the review, stated net of VAT, and the total of any additional fees for update or follow-up work on the same application (if work is ongoing, please state the fee agreed or invoiced to date and say that it is ongoing); (d) who paid the fee: the authority, or the applicant (including via a planning performance agreement or similar arrangement); (e) the number of residential units in the application (as described in the application, noting if the number changed); and (f) the date the review was commissioned.

    Published: 12 November 2026

  5. Microsoft and cloud licensing

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please send me the following information. 1. Your current Microsoft licences: product and licence type (e.g. Microsoft 365 E3, E5, F3, Copilot), number of each, annual cost, agreement end or renewal date, and the reseller (Licensing Solution Partner) you buy through. 2. Your cloud hosting providers (e.g. Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, UK providers): provider name, 2025/26 spend, and contract end date. 3. Your total 2025/26 spend on software licences and subscriptions, if held as a single figure.

    Published: 12 November 2026

  6. Allotment waiting lists

    For each allotment site the council manages, please could you tell me:

    1. The site name

    2. The number of plots

    3. The number of people currently on the waiting list

    4. The date the waiting list figures relate to, and whether the list is currently closed to new applicants

    Published: 12 November 2026

  7. Street names

    I am writing to make a request for all the information to which I am entitled under the The Freedom of Information Act 2002. 1. In the last five years (01.10.2021 to the present day), how many street names have been changed? For each instance please provide the following information: * The date the change was approved * The name of the street before it was changed * The name of the street after it was changed * A short description of why the change was made 2. In the last five years (01.10.2021 to the present day), how much money has been spent on signage, infrastructure and destruction (ie. of old signs) to reflect the new street names? If possible, please provide a breakdown of the money spent. 3. In the last five years (01.10.2021 to the present day), how many entirely new streets have been named? For each instance please provide the following information: * The date the name was approved * The name of the street * Any reason for the specific name

    Published: 12 November 2026

  8. Commercial and trade waste collection

    1. Any recorded information showing whether the Council, itself or through a contractor or company acting for it, offers businesses in its area a collection service for commercial or trade waste, as at the date of this request.

    2. If it does: - the address of any web page where a business can find out about the service or ask for it; - which waste streams the service collects (for example general waste, mixed dry recycling, paper and card, glass, food waste); - the current charges or price list, or a link to them.

    3. If it does not: any standard or recorded information the Council gives a business that asks it to collect its waste (for example a link to a list of private collectors).

    Published: 11 November 2026

  9. Households who are homeless

    I am writing to make a freedom of information request relating to accommodation secured for households who are homeless or threatened with homelessness under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. 1. The destination of households who have secured alternative accommodation at the end of the prevention duty. • By “prevention duty”, I am referring to section 195 of the Housing Act 1996, which places a duty on housing authorities to take reasonable steps to help eligible applicants threatened with homelessness within 56 days prevent their homelessness. • By “destination”, I am asking for the name of the local authority area in which the household secured accommodation, and the number of households accommodated in each area. • Please exclude households helped to remain in their existing accommodation. 2. Location of interim accommodation secured for households under section 188 of the Housing Act 1996. • By “interim accommodation”, I am referring to accommodation secured where the authority has reason to believe the applicant may be homeless, eligible for assistance and in priority need. • Please provide the number of households accommodated, broken down by the local authority area in which the accommodation was situated. 3. Destination of households who have secured accommodation at the end of the relief duty. • By “relief duty”, I am referring to section 189B of the Housing Act 1996, which requires housing authorities to take reasonable steps to help eligible homeless applicants secure accommodation. • Please provide the number of households who secured accommodation, broken down by destination local authority area. 4. Location of temporary accommodation secured for households who have been owed a main housing duty. • By “main housing duty”, I am referring to section 193(2) of the Housing Act 1996, namely the duty to secure accommodation for applicants who are homeless, eligible for assistance, have priority need and are not intentionally homeless. • Please provide the number of households accommodated, broken down by the local authority area in which the accommodation was situated. 5. Destination of households who have accepted accommodation that brought the main housing duty to an end. • Please include both social housing and private rented accommodation. • Please provide the number of households accommodated, broken down by destination local authority area. 6. The number of households accommodated in your local authority area by another local housing authority, as recorded in notifications received under section 208(2) of the Housing Act 1996. • Please provide the name of the placing council and the number of households placed by each council. • Please distinguish between prevention, relief, interim accommodation and main housing duty placements, according to the duty or function recorded in the notification, where held. • As set out in paragraph 17.63 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities, the notification requirement applies to all out-of-district placements under Part VII, not only those arranged under interim accommodation duties or the section 193(2) main housing duty. 7. The number of households for whom the council ended a prevention duty, relief duty, interim accommodation duty or main housing duty following refusal of an offer of accommodation outside your local authority area. • Please break these figures down by the duty ended and, where recorded, the destination local authority area of the refused offer. • Separately, please provide the number of applicants found intentionally homeless under section 191 of the Housing Act 1996 where the recorded reason involved refusal of an out-of-area accommodation offer and the consequent loss of accommodation previously occupied. For questions 1–6, I am requesting figures for accommodation actually secured or placements made during each year, rather than unaccepted offers or the number of households in accommodation at year-end. Please count each household once per destination local authority area, per question, per year, where your records allow. If your records instead count placements, including repeat placements of the same household, please provide those figures and make this clear. I recognise that households may appear under more than one question. For all queries above, I would like these numbers broken down by financial year: 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26, together with the latest figures held for 2026/27 at the time of receipt of this request. Please state the date covered by the 2026/27 figures. For questions relating to the prevention and relief duties introduced on 3 April 2018, please provide figures from that date onwards. Where equivalent figures for predecessor homelessness prevention activity are held for earlier years, please provide these separately and explain what they cover.

    Published: 10 November 2026

  10. Vacant properties

    Please could you provide the following information for areas that fall under Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's authority for the period 1 January 2021 to 31st December 2025:

    1. Vacant commercial and retail properties · The total number of commercial/retail premises recorded as empty, vacant or unoccupied · Where available, please could these figures be broken down by length of vacancy: · Less than 6 months · 6 – 12 months · 12 months – 2 years · More than 2 years

    2. Empty property business rates relief · The number of commercial/retail properties receiving empty property business rates relief or exemption at the end of each calendar year

    3. Empty property notices notices · The number of empty property notices, enforcement notices, or equivalent action taken in relation to vacant commercial/retail premises

    4. Enforcement action relating to derelict buildings · The number of enforcement actions taken in relation to vacant, derelict or poorly maintained commercial/retail premises, including boarding-up/securing works, Section 215 notices and other relevant enforcement notices, where separately recorded

    5. Environmental health and anti-social behaviour · Where separately recorded by the council or its relevant ASB team, please share the number of environmental complaints, reports, investigations, interventions or enforcement actions related to derelict buildings and vacant properties.

    Published: 10 November 2026