| Date received | 2nd December 2022 |
| Request for information | 1. The total cost to acquire and install the Denmark Street bike lockers 2.The total cost to run these per month (fixed and percentage fees to the operator) 3. The rental paid to WBC for the use of the spaces in the Denmark Street car park 4. The details of any grants received by WTC to cover these costs and how these are bound to be applied 5. Any business case that has been used in the decision to provide the lockers by full council, any working groups or committees |
| Response sent | 1. 8 cycle lockers (purchase and installation): £4,800 Budget for sedum roofs: £800 2. Annual cost: £2,160 3. No rent is payable 4. The total cost of the purchase and a sum that covers 2 years’ management fees has been covered with a grant awarded by WBC. This grant money came from DEFRA funding. 5. The project was considered by both the borough council and the town council to support sustainable travel which is an aspect of the work to address Climate Emergency. There was no specific business case formed for this project but an opportunity to access central government funding was seen as a positive opportunity to benefit the local community. |
| Files sent | n/a |
| Date responded | 5th December 2022 |
| Date received | 15th March 2023 |
| Request for information | 1. The date when a member of this Council was last elected via a contested public election? 2. The date each of the current members/representatives were appointed to serve on the Town Council 3. The process by which each member/representative was appointed i.e. whether the member / representative was appointed by ”Co-Option”, ”Elected unopposed”, or whether they were elected by a public ballot |
| Response sent | 1. The last contested election was held in the Wescott East Ward in December 2021. This byelection was called following the resignation of a serving councillor. 2. Councillor – Date of taking office as a councillor Jane Anslie – 2nd December 2021 Elizabeth Bishop – 6th May 2019 Rachel Bishop-Firth – 6th May 2019 Nicholas Campbell-White – 6th May 2019 Phil Cunnington – 6th May 2019 Peter Dennis – 6th May 2019 Mariangela Ferrai – 24th May 2021 Lynn Forbes – 6th May 2019 Nicholas Fox – 6th May 2019 Matteo Fumagalli – 6th May 2019 Maria Gee – 6th May 2019 Sally Gurney – 6th May 2019 Daniel Hinton – 6th May 2019 Peter Hornsby – 6th May 2019 Dianne King – 6th May 2019 Tony Lack – 6th May 2019 David Lee – 6th May 2019 Timothy Lloyd – 6th May 2019 Peter Lucey – 6th May 2019 Keith Malvern – 6th May 2019 Morag Malvern – 6th May 2019 Adrian Mather – 6th May 2019 Imogen Shepherd-Dubey – 6th May 2019 Abigail Tebboth – 6th May 2019 3. All members were elected by public ballot |
| Files attached | n/a |
| Date responded | 16th March 2023 |
| Date received | 5th June 2023 |
| Request for information | Wokingham town council has published The Precept. However this gives no indication of where ALL the money goes. Please publish a FULL breakdown of ALL organisations and operations receiving donations from this fund I require a complete and comprehensive account of where ALL monies have been spent. |
| Response sent | Please find attached a copy of the unaudited accounts for Wokingham Town Council for the year ending 31st March 2023 This details all expenditure for the town council for the last financial year Subsequent response: Information on grants recipients for 2022-23 is already available in the public domain. Our grants meeting is held in October, and the details of the recipients are confirmed in the December full council agenda pack (pages 25 to 27), which can be viewed on the council’s website. Confirmation of the approval of these grants is in the full council minutes for the same meeting (’05 7th December 2021′). Our grants are approved in December and paid the following April, so the grants listed in the unaudited accounts for 2022-23 were approved in December 2021. |
| Files attached | Unaudited accounts WTC year ending 31st March 2023 |
| Date responded | 5th June 2023 |
| Date received | 29th February 2024 |
| Information requested | Can you please provide me with an organisational structure chart for intelligence and performance teams (including adults, childrens and corporate), that includes the names and job titles for the following positions: Managers. Heads of Service. Director’s. Please can this include and cover all aspects of operational, strategic and performance specialisms. |
| Response sent | A staff structure chart and details of the officers (names and job titles) are already available in the public domain, on the town council’s website: https://www.wokingham-tc.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/StaffChartNov2021Website.pdf https://www.wokingham-tc.gov.uk/staff/ Managers are those with direct staff underneath them on the structure chart. We have no Heads of Service or Directors. |
| Files attached | n/a |
| Date responded | 29th February 2024 |
| Date received | 6th March 2024 |
| Information requested | 1.A – How many vacant council homes, including void properties do you currently have to date? (6th March 2024). 1.B – How many of these properties have been vacant for longer than 3 months? 1.C – How many of these properties have been vacant for longer than 6 months? 1.D – How many of these properties have been vacant for longer than 1 year? 2.A How many people do you currently have to date on your current council housing waiting list? (6th March 2024) |
| Response sent | The town council does not own or manage any residential properties and as a result does not manage a property waiting list. |
| Files attached | n/a |
| Date responded | 6th March 2024 |
| Date received | 12th July 2024 |
| Information requested | Please can you provide details of all expenditure over £250 for the past 2 financial years. Please include all donations to charities and justification as to why this was spend. Please also share any declaration’s of interest from officers over the past 12 months. |
| Response sent | Please find attached two files containing details of Wokingham Town Council expenditure between £250 and £500 for the 2022-23 financial year and the 2023-24 financial year. Expenditure above £500 is already available on the council’s website, in line with the Local Government Transparency Code (2015) https://www.wokingham-tc.gov.uk/accountability/ – please select ‘Financial reports’ and you will find this information at the top of the page. Furthermore, details of our grant expenditure can be found in the minutes of the grant meetings, which are held in October/November annually, and can be found on our website here: https://www.wokingham-tc.gov.uk/agendaminutes/ Please select the ‘Finance and Personnel’ tab. The town council does not record any justification for spending, so I am unable to provide this information. Council officers are not required to make declarations of interest. |
| Files attached | Spending 250 to 500 2022-23 Spending 250 to 500 2023-24 |
| Date responded | 22nd July 2024 |
| Date received | 31st October 2024 |
| Information requested | Please can you tell me how many people are currently on your waiting list for allotments. I am asking under the Freedom of information act 2000 |
| Response sent | The town council currently operates allotments across 8 sites within the town, with approximately 515 allotment plots. We currently have a waiting list of 305 names. This waiting list is very fluid, as new requests are received almost daily, and there will be some degree of duplication, since applicants can join both a specific site list as well as a general list for all sites. We have recently issued our invoices for the 2024-25 year (1st November 2024 to 31st October 2025) and as a result some 40 or so plots have been given up, so our Allotment Officer, Clare, will be contacting those at the top of our waiting lists and will be offering them the opportunity to take on a plot at one of our sites, so I fully expect this waiting list number will drop over the coming weeks. |
| Files attached | None |
| Date responded | 5th November 2024 |
| Date received | 7th November 2024 |
| Information requested | I am writing to formally request access to information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The information is about the Christmas decorations in the town – who bought them and how much they cost. Specifically, I request: * How much money has the council spent on Christmas decorations for 2024 overall? Could you please break it down into different items. IE – £xx was spent on lighting, £xx was spent on the tree, £xx was spent on installing the decorations. * If the details could be sent over in a word document/PDF or an excel spreadsheet that would be grateful appreciated. |
| Response sent | Please find below the information we are able to provide: For 2024, the total commitment to our contractor for Christmas lights, which covers: Christmas tree provision (1 x 10M, 1 x 2M, 24 x 1M trees), installation and take down Installation of Christmas lights, take down of lights, storage and any maintenance / repairs Health and safety checking Storage of fencing to surround the main Christmas tree Total = £27,064.00 We also have lighting on existing trees (not Christmas trees) around the town area. This year we have spent the following: Removal of light wrapping around trees to allow for growth (carried out in the early summer of 2024). Replacement lights and re-installation in October 2024 Total = £3,904.60 Total spend = £30,968.60 |
| Files attached | None |
| Date responded | 7th November 2024 |
| Date received | 10th December 2024 |
| Information requested | I’d like to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act, please. According to two clauses added to the “Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities” by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (under its old name of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) in February 2024, “accommodation will not be suitable for a household with children under the age of 2 if there is not adequate space for a cot for each child aged under 2”, and “where households with babies and young children under 2 do not have access to a cot when placed in temporary accommodation, housing authorities should consider what support is available for the provision of a cot.” Link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities/chapter-17-suitability-of-accommodation#:~:text=Cots%20in%20temporary%20accommodation&text=This%20may%20involve%20housing%20authorities,a%20result%20of%20domestic%20abuse. With this in mind, please tell me: How many temporary accommodation is the council using as of today’s date to accommodate households with at least one child under the age of two? Of these units, as of today’s date: How many have been assessed as having adequate space for a cot? How many have been assessed as NOT having adequate space for a cot? How many have not been assessed for whether or not there is space for a cot? How many families with children aged under two at the time of placement have been placed in temporary accommodation since February 2024? Of these, how many families did not have their own cots and what provisions was the council able to make for them? (This information can be supplied as totals — for instance, X number of households had a cot provided, Y number of households were given guidance on how to obtain a cot, etc.) |
| Response sent | How many temporary accommodation is the council using as of today’s date to accommodate households with at least one child under the age of two? Wokingham Town Council does not have, nor does it provide, any temporary accommodation. This is a service provided by the borough council, not the town council. Of these units, as of today’s date: How many have been assessed as having adequate space for a cot? Not applicable. The town council does not hold this information. How many have been assessed as NOT having adequate space for a cot? Not applicable. The town council does not hold this information. How many have not been assessed for whether or not there is space for a cot? Not applicable. The town council does not hold this information. How many families with children aged under two at the time of placement have been placed in temporary accommodation since February 2024? Not applicable. The town council does not hold this information. Of these, how many families did not have their own cots and what provisions was the council able to make for them? (This information can be supplied as totals — for instance, X number of households had a cot provided, Y number of households were given guidance on how to obtain a cot, etc.) Not applicable. The town council does not hold this information. |
| Files attached | None |
| Date responded | 10th December 2024 |