Freedom of information (FOI) releases from Guildford

This is a disclosure log of Guildford Council's responses to freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) requests that might be of wider public interest.

If you can't find the information you're looking for, you can make a new FOI request.

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730 disclosures

  1. Public Space CCTV System

    I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding the Council's public space CCTV system. I would be grateful for responses to the following structured questions.

    To help your team return the information efficiently, I have grouped the questions into five sections. I have deliberately scoped the request narrowly, and would be happy to refine further if any part exceeds the Section 12 cost limit.

     

    1. CCTV estate

    1.1 The total number of fixed cameras operated by, or on behalf of, the Council in public spaces (excluding cameras covering council office interiors, car parks on private land, and housing-stock-only cameras).

    1.2 The total number of redeployable, mobile, or vehicle-mounted cameras operated by, or on behalf of, the Council.

    1.3 The approximate age in years of the oldest cameras currently in operation.

    1.4 The name and version of the Video Management System (VMS) or control room software currently in use (for example, Genetec Security Center, Milestone XProtect, Synectics Synergy, Cathexis CathexisVision).

     

    2. Contracts

    2.1 The names of the current suppliers for each of the following:

    a.           CCTV hardware supply.

    b.           Video Management System / control room software.

    c.           Installation, maintenance, and repair services.

     

    2.2 The contract commencement date and expiry date for each of the contracts identified in question 2.1.

    2.3 For each contract, any scheduled option to extend beyond the stated expiry, together with the maximum length of the extension.

    2.4 The procurement framework under which each contract was awarded, if any (for example, Crown Commercial Service RM6263, YPO, Procure Partnerships, NEPO, ESPO, or a direct award).

     

    3. Budget

    3.1 The total revenue expenditure on the public space CCTV service in the most recently completed financial year (2024/25), broken down where readily available into: (a) staff costs, (b) maintenance contract costs, (c) connectivity / telecommunications costs, (d) software licence costs.

    3.2 Any ring-fenced capital allocation for CCTV investment approved in the current financial year (2025/26) or planned for 2026/27.

     

    4. Operational responsibility

    4.1 The job title of the officer with day-to-day operational responsibility for the CCTV service (for example, CCTV Control Room Manager, Community Safety Manager).

    4.2 The job title of the senior responsible officer (Director or Head of Service level) for the CCTV service.

    4.3 Where disclosure is consistent with Section 40 of the Act, the names of the officers in 4.1 and 4.2.

     

    5. Recent funding

    5.1 Please confirm whether the Council received funding, applied for funding, or is a named local authority partner in any of the following schemes in the last 24 months:

    a. Home Office Safer Streets Fund (any round, including Round 5, 2023-2025).

    b. Defra Fly-tipping Intervention Grant Scheme (any round).

    c. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Pride in Place Strategy funding.

    d. UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocations where used for CCTV, community safety, or public realm surveillance.

    5.2 Where the Council received funding under any of the above, the total amount and whether any portion was, or is, ring-fenced for CCTV or related technology spend.

     

    Published: 22 September 2026

  2. Communications enquiry

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

    PART A — CORRESPONDENCE WITH RESIDENTS

    1. The total amount spent by the council on printing and posting correspondence to residents during the most recently completed financial year. A whole-organisation total is sufficient.

    2. The number of items posted to residents during the same period, if this is recorded.

    3. The total amount spent on SMS or text messaging to residents during the same period, and the number of messages sent, if these are recorded.

    PART B — THE ANNUAL CANVASS

    4. The total cost to the council of the most recently completed annual canvass, including printing, postage, staffing and any personal canvasser visits. If the canvass cost is not recorded separately from the council's general print and postage budget, please say so.

    5. For that same canvass: the number of residential properties to which a canvass communication was sent; the number that did not respond to the first communication; the number of reminder communications sent; and the number of household visits carried out.

    6. For that same canvass, the number of responses received by each route — paper, online, telephone and SMS — if this breakdown is recorded.

    PART C — WHO HOLDS THIS WORK

    7. The job title and, if the council is willing to share it, the direct contact details of the officer responsible for resident communications, customer contact strategy or digital transformation.

    8. The job title and, if the council is willing to share it, the direct contact details of the Electoral Registration Officer and of the officer who manages the annual canvass day to day.

     

    Published: 22 September 2026

  3. Community Venue Request

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing to formally request information regarding the digital management and booking of council-owned assets (e.g., Community Centres, Halls, Libraries, Town Halls, Sports Pitches and Pavilions).

    Please provide a response addressing the following:

    1. Name of venue(s)

    2. Number of bookable spaces

    3. Total venue income from bookings last financial year (£)

    4. What booking and management system (or software) does the Council currently use for its community venues?

    5. What is the financial arrangement for this system? (Please specify any upfront setup fees, recurring annual license/maintenance fees, and any commission or transaction-based fees charged to the Council or the end-user).

    6. When does the current contract for this system expire?

    7. Which individual within the Council is responsible for the management and oversight of this contract? (please supply name and job role)

    Published: 22 September 2026

  4. Illegal traveller sites in Guildford & Waverley.

    I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act to request the following information (ref: Yellowstone Park, ( WBC) Stovvolds Hill, & Unstead ( GBC):

    Please can you supply the following, starting at base year 2024:

    1. Number of new illegal traveller Sites reported, with approximate number of caravans etc if relevant.

    2. Locations of these sites,

    3. Whether these sites owned by occupiers or not (- rough %)

    4. How many sites have received enforcement notices.

    5. What are the results to date of enforcement action i.e. how many sites are now either, compliant, or fined, or returned to original condition.

    6. Does the council check the protected status - ethnicity & legal status of those occupying the site?

    7. Can you confirm whether Surrey Police are made aware on each occasion a new site is reported?

    8. Can you confirm whether welfare checks have been made to investigate whether there are trafficking victims, & are these reported to the police/home office?

    9. What is the total cost to the council of monitoring, & enforcement action for the following financial years
    2024
    2025
    2026 – To date.

                                                                                       

    Published: 22 September 2026

  5. Grass cutting frequency

    I'm enquiring whether your grass cutting frequency for parks, verges, etc., has changed in 2025 or 2026.

    I'm interested in whether grass is being cut less in mid-summer and more in spring and autumn.

    Published: 22 September 2026

  6. Benefits Take-Up Services

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

    This is an information request regarding benefit take-up services and income maximisation for PIP, ERA and LCWRA.

    Please include the following information for the following years 2025/26, 2024/25, 2023/24 and 2022/23

    1) Total amount paid each year to third-party providers of benefit take up, benefit entitlement analytics, low income data tracking or income maximisation services.

    a. This includes but is not limited to: Policy in Practice (including the Low Income Family Tracker / "LIFT" dashboard and the Better Off Calculator), Entitledto, IncomeMax, Inbest, Lightning Reach, and Turn2us calculator licensing.

    2) For each provider please provide:

    a) The name of the provider and the product,

    b) The start date of the contract and the end date.

    3) Specify which providers provide services for PIP, ERA and LCWRA.

    4) Provide the council's most recent recorded figures for additional benefit income secured for residents claiming PIP, ERA and LCWRA. (Sometimes recorded as "financial gains", "income generated", "income maximised" or "additional benefits secured")

    5) Total number of households that secured additional benefit income for residents each year.

    a) How many additional households did the additional benefit income for PIP, ERA and LCWRA secured go to?

    b) If possible, provide a breakdown of households based on which benefit they received after the third party benefit take up

    6) Does the council fund a welfare rights, benefits advice or income-maximisation service? (in-house or commissioned, including grants to Citizens Advice or other advice agencies)

    a) If yes, please provide:

    * the current number of full-time-equivalent staff,

    * The council's expenditure on the service.

    7) The total number of residents contacted by letter, text, phone or door knocking in proactive benefit take-up campaigns. Meaning the council initiated contact by or on behalf of the council with residents identified as potentially eligible for benefits they were not claiming.

    a) Please provide council estimates if the exact number is not recorded

    b) Provide the benefits that residents were targeted to sign up to

    8) Total number of social security appeals (including mandatory reconsiderations and First-tier Tribunal cases) in which the council's welfare rights service, or a council-funded service, provided casework or representation in each financial year.

    a) Provide the number of successful and rejected cases.

    9) A copy of the most recent annual report or performance report of the welfare rights/income-maximisation service, if one exists.

    Published: 21 September 2026

  7. Public Facing Devices

    I am requesting the following under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. A completion table is at the end of this request; filling it in is sufficient to answer in full.

    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.

    *COMPLETION TABLE*

    Snapshot date used
    Scope confirmed as defined above (Y/N)
    Third-party-managed devices included (Y/N)
    1. Total devices
    2. Unsupported devices
    3. Of which Windows 10
    3. Of which other (specify OS)
    4. ESU purchased? (Y/N)
    4. Devices covered by ESU
    5. Year 1 ESU cost, ex-VAT
    6. Target completion date (or "none set")
    7. Link to published paper

    Published: 21 September 2026

  8. 2 The Rock, Thornberry Way, Guildford

    I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding the commercial property at 2 The Rock, Thornberry Way, Guildford GU1 1RU.

    I understand that Guildford Borough Council owns the property. I would be grateful if you could provide the following information in relation to the space currently occupied by The Links Lounge, understood to be on the third floor:

    1) The current annual passing rent.

    2) The approximate floor area covered by the lease.

    3) The lease commencement date and lease term.

    4) Details of any rent-free period or other lease incentives granted at commencement.

    5) The rent review provisions and, if applicable, the date of the next rent review.

    6) Any annual service charge payable by the tenant, if this information is held.

    7) Whether the lease is directly between Guildford Borough Council and The Links Lounge Ltd, or whether the occupier holds the premises through another tenant/sublease arrangement.

     

    Published: 21 September 2026

  9. Ecological obligations for planning applications enquiry

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

    1. As of 1 April 2026, how many posts within the authority provide ecological advice on planning applications? Please state the number of posts and the total full-time equivalent (FTE).

    2. Do the duties of any of those posts include the assessment of biodiversity gain plans or statutory biodiversity metric calculations submitted under Schedule 7A to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990? Yes/No is OK.

    3. Does the authority obtain ecological advice on planning applications other than from its own directly employed staff? Please indicate which of the following apply and name the body concerned:

    (a) a county council or other local authority;

    (b) a shared or joint service, or a local authority owned company;

    (c) external consultants under a framework or standing contract;

    (d) external consultants instructed case by case.

    Where a shared arrangement operates, please state the total FTE of the shared resource and the number of authorities it serves.

    Legal capacity

    4. As at 1 April 2026, how does the authority obtain legal advice on planning matters? Please indicate all that apply and name the advice provider:

    (a) an in-house legal team employed directly by the authority;

    (b) a shared legal service, joint arrangement or LPA-owned company;

    (c) legal services provided by a county council or other local authority (e.g. under a service-level agreement);

    (d) a framework, panel or standing contract with external solicitors;

    (e) external solicitors or counsel instructed case by case.

    5.(A) As of 1 April 2026, how many posts within the authority or within any shared service serving it are held by qualified lawyers, including those without an active practising certificate? Please state the number of posts and total FTE.

    (B) Of the posts in 5(A), how many are responsible for planning, property or environmental law, either in practice or by way of a post description or team structure?

    6. Does the authority hold a written policy, protocol or similar document stating who drafts agreements under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, for example, whether such agreements are drafted by the authority or by the applicant's solicitors on the authority's pro-forma? If so, please provide it or a link to it.

    7. Does the authority maintain a pro-forma/template section 106 agreement? If so, does that template contain provisions relating to biodiversity net gain? Please provide it or a link to it.

    Monitoring and enforcement

    8. Does the authority charge a monitoring fee in respect of section 106 obligations in relation to BNG (e.g. for site visits and the review of Habitat Management and Monitoring Plans? If so, please state:

    (a) the basis on which the fee is calculated;

    (b) the total sum collected in the most recent complete financial year; and

    (c) whether that income funds any identified post or posts, and if so the total FTE of those posts.

    9. As at 1 April 2026, how many posts within the authority have responsibility for monitoring compliance with section 106 obligations after planning permission has been granted? Please state the number of posts and total FTE. If this responsibility is not assigned to any identified post, please confirm that.

    10. (severable). From February 2024 to the present, on how many occasions has the authority taken formal enforcement action in respect of a breach of a planning condition or section 106 obligation relating to ecological or biodiversity requirements? If this is not recorded in a way that distinguishes ecological breaches, please say so.

    11. (severable). Has the authority received any government grant funding specifically to support the implementation of biodiversity net gain? If so, please state the amount and the period covered.

     

    Published: 15 September 2026

  10. Temporary Accommodation Supply, Procurement and Property Requirements

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

    I am seeking recorded information about your authority’s current use and procurement of temporary accommodation (TA), including accommodation obtained from private landlords, agents, companies, managing agents, registered providers and other external suppliers.

    Please provide, where held:

    1. A copy of the authority’s current policy, specification, property standard, landlord/provider guide or other recorded criteria used when assessing privately supplied temporary accommodation.

    2. The property types currently accepted or sought for TA, including bedroom sizes, self-contained units, flats, houses, HMOs, blocks, B&B/hotel accommodation and any specialist or accessible accommodation.

    3. Any current recorded geographical restrictions, including whether properties outside the authority’s area are accepted and, if so, which areas are currently considered.

    4. The current standard contractual or commercial arrangements offered to private landlords/providers, including typical lease/licence length, break clauses, rent/payment basis, void arrangements, repair responsibilities, council tax/utilities responsibilities and any guaranteed-rent provisions.

    5. The minimum property compliance requirements currently applied, including EPC, gas safety, electrical safety/EICR, fire safety, HMO/selective/additional licensing, insurance and any inspection/HHSRS requirements.

    6. The number of households placed in TA at the latest available reporting date, broken down where held by household/property size.

    7. For financial year 2025/26, the total gross expenditure on TA and, where held, the amount paid to external private-sector accommodation providers.

    8. For 2025/26, the number of TA units sourced from private landlords/companies/providers, and the number of units located outside the authority’s area.

    9. A list of current frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems, approved supplier lists, leasing schemes or other procurement routes through which private landlords, property companies or agents can offer accommodation to the authority, including the relevant procurement/contact route.

    10. Any current recorded statement of priority property demand or shortage, for example demand for 1-, 2-, 3-, 4+ bedroom homes, HMOs, accessible homes or particular locations.

    11. The name or job title and generic contact details of the team responsible for acquiring or commissioning temporary accommodation from private landlords or external providers.

    12. Where any requested information is already publicly available, please provide the direct link or document reference rather than reproducing it:

     

    Published: 15 September 2026