Planning privacy notice

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

Information collected

If you make a planning application we need to process some of your personal information. This includes yours' and your agents name, address and contact details. We publish some of this information online (although telephone numbers and email addresses are redacted).

When you make a comment or objection to a planning application we will ask for your name, address and contact details. Some of this information will be made available to the public such as your address, however we will not publish your name or personal contact details (email, phone contacts).

When you submit a representation to a Development Plan, including a Neighbourhood Plan we will ask for your name, address and contact details. Some of this information will be made public – usually only your name. However we will not publish your personal contact details (address, email, phone contacts).

For the purposes of any Joint Development Plan preparation your details will be used for the statutory plan making requirements and may include sharing for these purposes with partner authorities involved in the Joint Plan for purposes linked to preparation of the Joint Plan only.

For the purposes of Neighbourhood Plan preparation your details will be used for the statutory plan making requirements and may include sharing for these purposes with the relevant Parish / Town Council involved in the Neighbourhood Plan for purposes linked to preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan only.

Agencies we might share your information with

We consult widely depending on the scale and complexity of the application / representations and may share your information with the following

• Environment Agency
• Highways England
• Natural England
• Historic England
• Essex County Council Highways
• Essex Wildlife Trust/EECOS
• LLFA/SUDS Team (flooding and drainage)
• Essex County Council Education
• National Health Service
• Parish Councils
• Civica (our preferred IT software application for planning applications)
• Surrounding neighbours
• Civic Societies
• Neighbourhood Planning Groups
• Planning Inspectorate (information on applications forms and comments shared for appeals)
• Planning Inspectorate (Information on Development Plan Representations via the Consultation Portal / data base as required)
• Neighbourhood Plan Examiner (various appointed independently for the purposes of the relevant NHP Examination)
• Police and the Courts (for enforcement, all details are kept confidential. However, if an offence occurs we may need to share information with the police. Also, if cases go to court then the details of any person involved in the breach of planning will be shared and may be given to the press. If a person who reports a complaint about someone needs to give evidence, which is rare, then their details will be made known in court.)

The purpose and lawful basis for processing

The lawful basis for the processing of your personal data is legal obligation. The law concerning planning applications is derived from the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015. The Procedure Order prescribes what we must do as part of applications including the provision of a public register of applications.

The requirement to consult statutory consultees on the Local Plan are contained in the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 and the Neighbourhood Planning Regulation 2012..

Length of time we keep your information

As data related to Statutory Planning Policy consultations forms part of the public record, it will be retained for 15 years before it is archived/stored for the required time (currently 15 years). Anyone registered on the Local Plan Consultation database without a logged representation will automatically be requested to confirm their wish to remain on the database periodically, and records will no longer be retained where they do not opt in.

For the purposes of any Joint Development Plan or Neighbourhood Plan your details will be retained for the statutory plan making requirements and may included sharing these purposes with partner authorities involved in the Neighbourhood / Joint Plan for purposes linked to preparation of the Joint Plan only.

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.

We use cloud providers and online application providers to help us run our business. Therefore the use of some of our systems may include the transfer of your personal data to other countries. Your data will only be transferred to other countries which have adequate provision in place to protect personal data to an equivalent level as personal data held in the UK.

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 reviewed" date on this notice. We encourage you to periodically review this notice and to be informed of how we are protecting your information.