Building Control privacy notice

This Privacy Notice should be read in conjunction with Colchester City Council’s Privacy Policy.

When you make a building regulation application, or we receive notification for a demolition, dangerous structure or unauthorised work we need to process some of your personal information.

Information collected

• Name
• Address
• Contact details
• Medical records (only where required as evidence to justify exemption from our charges)
• Bank account details (for the purposes of refunds only)

Agencies and other parties we might share your information with

• Anglian Water Services Ltd
• Essex County Fire and Rescue Service
• Essex Highways
• Health & Safety Executive
• Other Local Authorities, Fire Authorities and Water Companies in England and Wales (where Partner applications)
• Consultant Electrical Contractor
• Consultant Structural Engineer
• Nominated Building Control Consultants
• Building Safety Regulator
• Police
• Law Enforcement Agencies
• Other CBC departments including Planning, Private Sector Housing, Environmental Health, Finance, Council Tax, Business Rates, Legal

The purpose and lawful basis for processing

The lawful basis for the processing of your personal data is legal obligation. The law relating to Building Regulations is derived from The Building Act 1984 and The Building Regulations 2010 (as amended). Building work requires Building Control Approval and you're responsible for making sure that your building project complies with Building Regulations. In order to assist you with and process your application the Council requires the above information. We only request the minimum amount of information and ensure that is it stored securely in Civica (our preferred IT software system) and Idox (our preferred document management system).

Length of time we keep your information

We will keep your information while you have an active Building Control application and for 15 years after the application has been completed or closed after which your personal information will be deleted from our system. However, you do have the right to contact us and ask for your information to be removed prior to that where there is no obligation or statutory requirement for it to be kept. You can exercise this right by contacting building.control@colchester.gov.uk

How we protect and store your personal data

We take the confidentiality of personal information very seriously and use recognised security and access controls to protect your information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or corruption. We have procedures and processes in place to ensure that your personal information is managed appropriately.

Your information may be held outside of the UK. Where this is the case, we ensure that additional measures are in place to protect your data and to ensure that we continue to comply with data protection requirements.

Updates to this privacy notice

We will continually review and update this privacy notice to reflect changes in our processes and procedures, as well as to comply with changes in the law. When such changes occur, we will revise the "last updated" date at the bottom of this notice. We encourage you to periodically review this notice and to be informed of how Colchester City Council is protecting your information.