Planning privacy notice

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

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

h2>Information we collect

If you make a planning application, we need to process some of your personal information. This includes your name, address and contact details, and your agent’s name, address and contact details, where applicable.

We publish some information online. Private addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses are redacted.

If you make a comment or objection to a planning application, we will ask for your name and address. We will not publish your name and address.

If you submit a representation to a development plan, including a neighbourhood plan, we will ask for your name, address and contact details.

Some information will be made public, usually only your name. We will not publish your personal contact details, such as your address, email address or telephone number.

For joint development plan preparation, your details and any comments you submit will be used for statutory plan-making requirements. This may include sharing information with partner authorities involved in the joint plan, for purposes linked to preparing the joint plan only.

For neighbourhood plan preparation, your details will be used for statutory plan-making requirements. This may include sharing information with the relevant parish or town council involved in the neighbourhood plan, for purposes linked to preparing the neighbourhood plan only.

Who we may share your information with

We consult widely depending on the scale and complexity of the application or representation.

We may share supporting information with the following organisations. We will not share your personal details and will redact them from consultations.

  • Environment Agency
  • Highways England
  • Natural England
  • Historic England
  • Essex County Council Highways
  • Essex Wildlife Trust and EECOS
  • Lead Local Flood Authority and Sustainable Drainage Systems Team
  • 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, for application forms and comments shared for appeals
  • Planning Inspectorate, for development plan representations through the consultation portal or database, where required
  • neighbourhood plan examiners appointed for the relevant neighbourhood plan examination
  • Police and the courts, for enforcement purposes

For planning enforcement, all details are kept confidential. However, if an offence occurs, we may need to share information with the Police.

If a case goes to court, details of any person involved in the breach of planning control may be shared and may be given to the press.

If someone who reports a complaint needs to give evidence, which is rare, their details will be made known in court.

Why we use your personal data

The lawful basis for processing your personal data is legal obligation.

The law concerning planning applications comes from the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015.

The Development Management Procedure Order sets out what we must do as part of planning applications, including providing a public register of applications.

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

How long we keep your information

Data related to statutory planning policy consultations forms part of the public record.

We will retain this information for 15 years before it is archived or stored for the required time, which is currently 15 years.

Anyone registered on the Local Plan consultation database without a logged representation will periodically be asked to confirm if they wish to remain on the database.

Records will no longer be retained where someone does not opt in.

For joint development plans or neighbourhood plans, your details will be retained for statutory plan-making requirements.

This may include sharing information with partner authorities involved in the neighbourhood plan or joint plan, for purposes linked to preparing the plan only.

Public consultations

Under our statutory obligations, we collect opinions through consultation. This includes opinions from residents and members of the public.

Information we collect for public consultations

We may collect:

  • your email address or address
  • your name

Who we may share public consultation information with

We may share public consultation information with:

  • parish councils
  • neighbourhood planning groups
  • Essex County Council, as the highway authority

Why we use public consultation information

The lawful basis for processing your personal data for public consultations is consent.

There may be times when we contact you about other consultations. You have the right to withdraw from this at any time.

How long we keep public consultation information

For statutory consultations, we hold your details on the database until the development plan that your representation relates to has been adopted.

For anyone else on the database without a representation, we hold this information for 1 year.

Tendring and Colchester Borders Garden Community

This section explains how personal data is processed for the Tendring and Colchester Borders Garden Community project, including the planning application, associated documents, plans and representations.

The Garden Community is delivered through partnership working between Tendring District Council, Colchester City Council and Essex County Council. These partner authorities are joint data controllers.

The lawful basis for processing is Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR.

Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

This processing is carried out under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Information collected for the Garden Community

Tendring District Council collects:

  • name
  • address
  • email address
  • telephone number of the applicant or their representative
  • signatures
  • representations

Colchester City Council collects:

  • name
  • address
  • representations

How long Garden Community information is kept

Personal information is retained in line with each authority’s published corporate retention schedules and the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Information is recorded and published on each council’s public-facing planning software.

Information is held in perpetuity to provide a transparent record and history of a property or site.

The name and address of people making representations may be published to ensure transparency and openness.

Who Garden Community information is shared with

The Garden Community is delivered through partnership working between Tendring District Council, Colchester City Council and Essex County Council.

We may need to share personal information and representations between the partner authorities to co-ordinate engagement, manage the programme and meet our statutory responsibilities.

We only share what is necessary and put arrangements in place to keep information secure.

Data may also be shared with:

  • the applicant
  • the applicant’s nominated representatives
  • appellants
  • relevant internal officers
  • elected members
  • council departments
  • statutory consultees
  • partners
  • stakeholders
  • consultants
  • the Planning Inspectorate

Information provided through online portals will be visible to the public.

How we protect and store your personal data

We take the confidentiality of personal information very seriously. We 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 make sure your personal information is managed appropriately.

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

We use cloud providers and online application providers to help us run our services. This means some systems may transfer your personal data to other countries.

Your data will only be transferred to 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 review and update this privacy notice to reflect changes in our processes and procedures, and to comply with changes in the law.

When changes are made, we will update the “last reviewed” date on this notice.

We encourage you to review this notice regularly to stay informed about how we protect your information.