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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425 disclosures

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. Freedom of Information request - Bus lane fines

    I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act. 1. Annual bus lane penalty figures Please provide the following information for each calendar year from 1 January 2021 to the most recent date for which data is available in 2026: 1a. The total number of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued to motorists for driving in designated bus lanes. 1b. The total monetary value of the PCNs issued. Please provide the figures separately for each year rather than as combined totals. If possible, please distinguish between penalties issued following camera detection and those issued through other enforcement methods. 2. Use of automated and AI-enabled cameras Please confirm whether the council uses cameras to detect and enforce bus lane contraventions, and whether these systems use artificial intelligence (AI) or automated video/image analysis to identify potential offences. If applicable, please provide: 2a. The date or year in which automated camera enforcement was first introduced for bus lanes. 2b. The date or year in which any AI-enabled detection system was introduced. 2c. The number of cameras currently used for bus lane enforcement, and the number of AI-enabled cameras, if recorded. 2d. Whether detected contraventions are automatically converted into PCNs or reviewed by a member of staff before a penalty is issued.

    Published: 9 November 2026

  4. Council tax bands of domestic properties

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please send me a list of every domestic property on your council tax list with: - its UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number) - its council tax band - its address and postcode, if you are able to include them - your property reference number for it, if your system holds one (not council tax account numbers) I am not asking for any personal information. An Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx) of what your system already holds would be ideal. Long reference numbers are often damaged when a list is saved as CSV. If a CSV is easier, please could you format the UPRN as text before exporting. I appreciate a single band can be looked up on the government's 'Check your Council Tax band' service, but the complete list is not reasonably accessible to me that way, so I don't believe section 21 applies. I would also be grateful for your permission to re-use the information under the Open Government Licence v3.

    Published: 6 November 2026

  5. Illegal Vape, Tobacco and Nicotine Product Seizures and Enforcement Data (2020–2026)

    Section 1. Number of illegal products seized, in the below categories: * How many units of the following products were seized in total? * E-cigarettes/vaping devices/e-liquid products * Single-use disposable vaping devices (post-1st June, 2025) * Cigarette or hand-rolling tobacco packs * Nicotine pouches Section 2. Enforcement: * How many Trading Standards inspections of premises selling vaping devices, cigarettes and tobacco, or nicotine pouch products have taken place? * The number of identified cases of illegal vape products being in possession of, stocked, or sold by businesses or individuals * How many (count of) fines or penalties have been issued for being in possession of, stocking, or selling the illegal vape products? * What was the total value in £ pound sterling of fines issued by your local authority for illegal vapes? * How many follow up Trading Standards inspections to locations previously identified as being in possession of, having stocked, or sold illegal vape products resulted in no further illicit products being found? Section 3. Please respond to the below and provide data for both a) vape and related products, and b) cigarettes and tobacco products: * How many reports has your local authority received concerning underage sales? * How many confirmed cases of businesses unlawfully selling products to underage persons have been identified, either through test purchasing or other means? * How many warnings have been issued to businesses caught selling to underage persons? * How many licence reviews, fines or penalties have been issued to businesses caught selling to underage persons? * What is the total value of fines or penalties issued (GBP), to businesses caught selling to underage persons? * How many shops have been given a) a closure notice, and b) a closure order for underage sales? Please note: if you are unable to retrieve 5 years of data for the above-requested information within the available FOI cost limit, please reduce the number of years to the last 3 years, or as far back as possible, to the latest available date.

    Published: 6 November 2026

  6. Pest control and stray dogs

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (or the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002), please provide the following: 1. The number of pest control service requests or complaints the council received in each of 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, split by pest (rats, mice, wasps, bed bugs, other) if held. 2. The number of stray dogs collected by or on behalf of the council in each of those years, and of those, how many were returned to their owners, rehomed, transferred to a rescue organisation, and put to sleep. 3. The council's current charges for pest treatment (if any), and the name of any contractor providing the pest control or dog warden service.

    Published: 3 November 2026

  7. Households rehoused due to flooding

    This request covers: · Households living in council-owned or funded housing, housing associations and other registered social landlord properties, · Households in privately rented accommodation who are entitled to council support Please provide: · The number of households that your council has a duty to rehouse due to flooding, in temporary or alternative accommodation, for each calendar year from 2021 to the present. Under the Housing Act 1996, councils have a duty to provide emergency accommodation if individuals are rendered homeless or threatened with homelessness as a result of an emergency such as flood. · The total cost of rehousing these households from 2021 to the present day, including temporary accommodation and any related costs recorded by the council. · If available, please provide the number of days of the longest stay by a household in temporary/alternative accommodation. Please separate this data by household type, if possible and you hold the information in this way. "Flooding" means flooding from rivers, the sea, surface water, groundwater or sewers. Where your records allow, please exclude internal escapes of water such as burst pipes or leaks. If flooding cannot be separated from other causes, please say so, and provide the grouped figures along with an understanding of what other causes the figure includes if that is the only data held.

    Published: 3 November 2026

  8. Business Rates - FOI

    Please can you send me a full and up to date list of businesses and charities that have become newly liable for business rates from the 25th Sept 26 to the 20th Oct 26. I would like you to include the full business name and address, along with the type of property, RV and date of liability. I would like to request this information under the freedom of information act.

    Published: 2 November 2026

  9. Statutory Notices

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide the following information for the financial year 2025–26: 1. The council's total expenditure on placing statutory notices in newspapers (that is, notices the council is required by legislation to publish in a local newspaper), across all council departments and functions. 2. The total income received by the council from third parties (for example developers, utility companies or other applicants) by way of recharge, reimbursement or fee income towards the cost of that newspaper advertising. 3. The net cost to the council of statutory notice newspaper advertising after that income is taken into account, if this figure is held or readily calculable from the answers above.

    Published: 2 November 2026

  10. CCTV/camera manufacturer restrictions

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please could you tell me: 1. Whether Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has any policy, list or instruction that prohibits or restricts the purchase or use of CCTV or camera equipment from specific manufacturers or providers. 2. If so, which manufacturers or providers are affected. A reply by email is fine.

    Published: 2 November 2026