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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422 disclosures

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. Please answer these questions directly: 1. Were Tunbridge Wells Borough Council or Kent County Council notified about the festival in advance? When? 2. Were Civil Enforcement Officers specifically assigned to St Marks Road or nearby streets because the festival was taking place? 3. What internal communications, deployment instructions or enforcement briefings referred to the festival? 4. How many PCNs were issued in the surrounding area between 8am and midday on 11 October, and specifically between 9am and 10am? 5. How many officers were deployed there that morning, and what were their instructions? 6. What was the total face value of the penalties issued and how much has actually been collected? 7. How do those figures compare with the previous four Sundays in the same area? 8. What was done to help the organisers address parking or consider alternative arrangements?

    Published: 2 November 2026

  9. Please provide the following information: 1. Please provide a full itemised breakdown of all fraud detected and investigated over the last 12 months, including: * A breakdown of these cases by the category or type of fraud investigated (e.g., social housing sub-letting, fraudulent homelessness applications). * The total estimated financial value of the fraud detected or prevented, broken down by category. * The total monetary value successfully recovered or saved by the council. * The total number of council homes or social housing properties recovered as a result of suspected fraud, such as illegal sub-letting. * The total number of homelessness applications rejected or reassessed due to the discovery of fraudulent information or undisclosed assets, such as other owned properties. 2. Alongside the statistical data, please provide anonymised case studies or summaries of notable fraud cases uncovered by your team over the past year. The human impact and investigative methods are of significant public interest. For the case studies provided, please detail: * The nature of the suspected fraud (e.g., a tenant whose main residence was elsewhere, or a homelessness applicant failing to disclose property ownership). * How the fraud was identified and investigated, such as through background checks, bank statement analysis, or formal interviews under caution. * The final outcomes of these investigations, such as a voluntary tenancy surrender, the issuing of a Simple Caution, or the successful reallocation of a property to a family in genuine need. To assist with processing and ensure this request remains within statutory limits: * All requested case study information is for high-level, anonymised summaries only, avoiding personal identifiers or proprietary investigative tactics that could prejudice future enforcement. * Please restrict all data and case studies solely to investigations that have been formally closed within the last 12 months.

    Published: 2 November 2026

  10. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (or the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002), please provide the following: 1. The council's total spend on electricity and, separately, on gas, in each of the financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25, and 2025/26 if available. 2. The total electricity and gas consumed, in kWh, in the same years, if held. 3. The name of the council's current electricity and gas supplier(s), or the purchasing framework used (for example a public buying organisation), and the end date of the current contract(s). 4. If held: the number of council sites or meters billed at out-of-contract, deemed or variable rates at any point in 2025/26.

    Published: 2 November 2026