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.

Filters

Clear filters

  • Keywords filters

  • Year filters

  • Month filters

382 disclosures

  1. Air quality monitoring

    1. Does the authority operate its own air quality monitoring stations or sensors, independent of Defra's national networks? 2. How many air quality monitoring stations or sensors are currently in operation across the authority's area? 3. What type of monitoring equipment is used (manufacturer, model, and parameters measured, for example PM2.5, PM10, NO2, or O3)? 4. Where is each monitoring unit located (addresses or geographic coordinates)? 5. Who operates the monitoring system (an in-house team or an external provider)? 6. What system is used to present and publish the monitoring data (web platform, mobile application, or public information display)? Please provide the URL if the data is published online. II. Ownership and contracts 7. Is the monitoring equipment owned by the authority? If so, please state: * the date of acquisition, * the cost of acquisition, * who services the equipment and under what agreement (provider name, type of contract, and contract term). 8. If the equipment is not owned by the authority, under what arrangement is it used (rental, lease, hire, loan, or other)? Please state: * the start date of the current agreement, * the end date of the agreement, * the name of the provider. III. Costs 9. What was the total cost of purchasing and commissioning the current monitoring system? 10. What is the annual cost of running the system, including servicing, calibration, data transmission, and hosting of the presentation platform? 11. What budget has been allocated to air quality monitoring for the 2026/27 financial year? IV. Development plans 12. Are any modifications to, or expansion of, the current monitoring system planned? If so, please state: * what changes are planned (for example additional sensors, a change of technology, or expansion of the data platform), * the intended timescale, * the estimated budget. 13. If the authority does not currently operate an air quality monitoring system, does it plan to implement one? If so, please state the intended timescale and the budget envisaged. V. External funding 14. Does the authority plan to apply for any grants or external funding related to air quality monitoring? 15. Which funding programmes are being considered or have already been identified (for example Defra's Air Quality Grant, or other national, devolved, or regional schemes)? 16. Has the authority previously drawn on external funding for this purpose? If so, from which sources and in what amounts? VI. Collaboration and data integration 17. Does the authority collaborate on air quality monitoring with any other organisations (for example universities, non-governmental organisations, Defra, or neighbouring authorities)? 18. Is the data from the authority's monitoring system integrated with any publicly accessible air quality platforms (for example UK-AIR)? 19. Does the authority use air quality monitoring data to inform operational decisions (for example issuing air quality alerts, managing traffic, or Local Air Quality Management action planning under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995)? 20. Does the authority use air quality monitoring data to inform or educate residents? VII. Air quality in planning and environmental permitting 21. When determining major development proposals (for example large construction, infrastructure, industrial, or minerals and waste schemes), does the authority require air quality or dust assessment, and does it attach conditions requiring air quality monitoring, dust management, or a Construction Environmental Management Plan during the works? 22. For industrial installations that the authority regulates through environmental permitting, does it set air emission limits or air quality monitoring requirements as permit conditions? 23. Where such conditions or permit requirements are imposed, is the operator required to carry out the monitoring, and is the resulting data reported to the authority or made publicly available?

    Published: 10 September 2026

  2. Asylum Dispersal Accommodation, HMO Licensing and Associated Funding

    Unless stated otherwise, please provide figures for each financial year from 2022/23 to 2025/26 inclusive, plus the current position at the date you answer. 1. Dispersal accommodation in the borough (a) Does the council hold information on the number of properties in the borough used as asylum dispersal or contingency accommodation? If so, how many, for each year requested? (b) How many individuals are accommodated in such properties in the borough at the most recent date for which you hold a figure? (c) Please confirm which Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract (AASC) provider or providers operate in the borough — for example Clearsprings Ready Homes, Serco or Mears — and whether the council holds any list of the properties concerned. 2. HMO licensing The Houses in Multiple Occupation (Asylum-Seeker Accommodation) (England) Regulations 2023 ceased to have effect on 1 July 2026, so properties previously exempt now require licensing. (a) How many HMO licence applications has the council received since 1 July 2026 in respect of properties used as asylum accommodation, and how many have been granted, refused, or remain outstanding? (b) How many properties in the borough are currently used as asylum accommodation without a licence, whether because an application is pending or because none has been made? (c) What steps has the council taken to identify properties that lost their exemption on 1 July 2026? (d) Please provide the council's total number of licensed HMOs in the borough, for each year requested, so the asylum figure can be read in proportion. 3. Inspection and enforcement (a) How many inspections has the council carried out of properties used as asylum accommodation, in each year requested? (b) How many such properties have failed an inspection or been found in breach of licensing or housing health and safety standards, and what was the nature of the breaches? (c) What enforcement action has the council taken in respect of those properties — improvement notices, prohibition orders, civil penalties, prosecutions — and with what outcome? (d) How many complaints has the council received from residents concerning such properties, and how many were upheld? 4. Money received (a) What sums has the council received from the Home Office, or from any other government department, in respect of asylum dispersal accommodation in each year requested? (b) Please break that down by the basis of payment — for example the per-existing-bed rate, the per-new-dispersal-bed rate, and any expedited-delivery or incentive payment. (c) How has that funding been applied? Please identify the service areas or budget lines to which it was allocated. 5. Agreements and governance (a) Does the council hold any written agreement, memorandum of understanding, protocol or service level agreement with the Home Office, or with any AASC provider, concerning asylum accommodation in the borough? If so, please provide copies. (b) Has the council formally considered asylum dispersal at any meeting of Cabinet, Full Council or any committee since April 2022? If so, please identify the meetings and provide the relevant reports and minutes. (c) Is the council a member of, or represented at, any regional or county-level asylum or migration partnership board? If so, please provide the minutes of its meetings for the period requested.

    Published: 9 September 2026

  3. Small business Rates Relief

    - How many businesses in your authority received SBRR in the 2025-2026 financial year? - What percentage of all local businesses, having a rateable value, does this figure represent ? - How many businesses have so far been granted SBRR in the 2026-2027 financial year ? - What percentage of all local businesses, having a rateable value, does this figure represent ? - How many properties with a rateable value below £15k in 2025-26 now have a rateable value above £15k? - How many properties with a rateable value above £15k in 2025-26 now have a rateable value below £15k ?

    Published: 9 September 2026

  4. Devices

    Definitions "Device" — an end-user computer in active use by your own staff, officers and elected or appointed members in delivering your organisation's services: desktops, laptops, tablets and thin clients. Include devices used in frontline and public-facing services you run directly. Include devices used by your staff but managed on your behalf by a third party, shared service or managed service provider. Under s.3(2)(b) FOIA, information held by another person on your behalf is held by you. Exclude servers, mobile phones, medical devices, operational technology, and any device in storage or awaiting disposal. Exclude devices used by schools and academies, whether or not you provide their IT support. If fire and rescue services are delivered within your organisation, please include them and confirm this below. "Unsupported" — the operating system has passed its vendor end-of-support date. Count a device as unsupported even if you hold Extended Security Updates for it. Windows 10 reached end of support on 14 October 2025 and counts as unsupported for the purposes of this request.

    *QUESTIONS* 1) How many devices in total? 2) How many of those devices are unsupported? 3) Please break the Q2 figure down by operating system. 4) Have you purchased Microsoft Extended Security Updates for Windows 10? If yes, how many devices are covered? 5) How much have you paid, or contracted to pay, for Year 1 ESU coverage (15 October 2025 to 13 October 2026), excluding VAT? 6) By what date do you expect all devices to be running a supported operating system? If no date has been set, please say so — that is a valid answer. 7) Please link to any report or paper addressing Windows 10 end of support or operating system migration considered in the public part of a board, committee, authority or panel meeting since 1 January 2025.

    Published: 1 September 2026

  5. Council prayers

    1. Between 26 May 2015 and 1 September 2026, have prayers ever been held at the start of meetings at the council? If the answer is "No", please proceed to Question 5. If the answer is "Yes", please answer the following in relation to the prayers: 2. If the practise of holding prayers began after 26 May 2015, please provide the start date. 3. If the practise of holding prayers ended between 26 May 2015 and 1 September 2026, please provide the date that they ceased. If prayers are still said at the council, please reply "still held" or words to that effect. 4. If prayers are still held at the council, please specify: a) What religion (if applicable) are the prayers at present? (If they reflect multiple religions, please specify "multifaith") b) Do the prayers reflect the council's chaplain, if applicable? c) Are the prayers held as an official agenda item, or are they held before the meeting starts and not on the agenda? 5. If prayers are not held at the council currently, please specify whether any sort of moment's silence or nonreligious reflection takes place instead.

    Published: 1 September 2026

  6. PH Funerals

    Please could you kindly send me any information you may hold relating to 'public health act' or 'welfare' or 'contract' or 'paupers' funerals having taken place or due to take place, and/or persons who have died with no known next of kin since 1/6/26 to the day of your reply. Please include: 1. full names of deceased persons, 2. dates of death, 3. marital status, 4. maiden surnames of married or widowed females, 5. dates of birth or ages at death, 6. last known addresses, 7. estimated value of estates, 8. date(s) when the information was passed (or information that is about to be or likely to be passed) to the Government Legal Department (formerly Treasury Solicitor) or the Duchy of Lancaster or Cornwall or any other 3rd party, or, confirmation that this will not be happening and the reason why.

    Published: 1 September 2026

  7. Football pitch information 2026

    1. How many football pitches did the council own on 1 January of 2026? 2. Of football pitches owned by the council, how many did the council operate on 1 January 2026? 3. Of football pitches owned by the council, how many were free to acccess as of 1 January 2026? 4. Of football pitches operated by the council, how many were free to acccess as of 1 January 2026? 5. How many football pitches owned by the council were closed down or sold in 2026?

    Published: 1 September 2026

  8. Odour complaints data request

    Can you please advise if you have any odour complaints recorded on file for the last three years in relation to the Southern Water Waste Water Treatment Works at Paddock Wood (567890, 145295), as below. Can you please search within 1km of this site.

    Published: 26 August 2026

  9. FOI/LGA savings

    Please advise of the efficiency savings your Council achieved in the financial year 2025/26 which savings, if any, were due to advice from the Local Government Association. This could include from LGA peer review, attending LGA conferences, or reading LGA research. If listing all the savings would be too onerous please restrict to any identified savings you have recorded of over £100,000.

    Published: 25 August 2026

  10. Number of sites designated Part 2A since 2017

    The number of sites within your authority's area that have been formally determined as "contaminated land" under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, from 1 January 2017 to the date of this request, broken down year by year.

    Published: 24 August 2026