Planning Services privacy notice

What this document is for 

This privacy notice provides details on how we, Norfolk County Council, use your personal information for the purposes of providing the planning service.

The Planning Service has a statutory duty to:

• Produce a Minerals and Waste Local Plan for Norfolk
• Determine planning applications for development within Norfolk relating to the management of waste, mineral workings and the County Council's own developments (such as schools, road schemes and libraries)
• Routinely inspect waste management facilities and monitor other development for which it has granted planning consent
• Take enforcement action against breaches of planning control.

By 'use' we mean the various ways your personal information may be processed, including storing and sharing the information.

Further details

We also provide the following details in the County Council's general privacy notice on our website:

• Who we are
• How long we use your information for
• Your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR) and
• How to exercise them.

You can also ask us for a copy of this information.

The Data Protection Act includes safeguards to protect the use of your data for law enforcement functions. Further details can be found in our Law Enforcement Processing Safeguards Policy, which sets out our procedures for compliance with the principles of the GDPR and the retention and erasure of this information.

What we use your information for

For Applicants making a Planning Application we may use your information to:

• Process your planning application (including appeals). By planning application we mean:
  • Applications for express grant of planning permission
  • Applications to remove, vary or discharge conditions attached to previously granted planning permissions
  • Applications for minor material amendments
  • Applications for non-material amendments
  • Applications for screening and scoping opinions
  • Applications for certificates of lawfulness and
  • Requests for pre-application advice relating to the above

For Representation on Planning Applications we may use your information to:

• Consider your representation in the determination of a planning application (including any appeals)
• Contact you about your representation (including about amended proposals and/or appeals)

For Planning Monitoring and Enforcement we may use your information for:

• Monitoring developments to ensure compliance with planning consent (including carrying out site visits)
• Collecting site data (records of how the land is being used) for assessing the effectiveness of the local plan policies and reporting to the Aggregates Working Party (AWP) and the Waste Technical Advisory Body (WTAB). Also, producing reports including the Local Aggregates Assessment and the Authority's own Annual Monitoring Report
• Receiving and investigating complaints about breaches of planning control
• Conducting investigations into offences where it has not been possible to secure planning compliance.

For the Minerals and Waste Planning Policy we may use your information to:

• Assess sites proposed for allocation in the Minerals and Waste Local Plan
• Consider your representation in the production of the Minerals and Waste Local Plan for Norfolk. If you respond to a consultation on the Minerals and Waste Local Plan, your name, qualification (where applicable) and comments are published
• Contact you about your representation, subsequent consultation stages and the examination of the Minerals and Waste Local Plan.

We also use this information to assess the quality of our services and evaluate and improve our policies and procedures. We may also use information in other ways compatible with the above. 

What personal data we collect and use about you

We may collect and use:

• Contact details (name, address, email, phone number)
• Signatures
• Information you provide within your planning application, proposal for a site allocation or representation
• Your interests in land (only applies to enforcement function)
• Photographs, audio and video records (only applies to enforcement function)
• Income and financial information (only applies to enforcement function)
• Family, employment and social relationships (only applies to enforcement function)

Who provides this information

We receive most of this information from you. However, for enforcement functions we may receive information from:

• Members of the public
• Police
• Other enforcers or regulators, including HMRC, Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency, Natural England
• Other businesses or employers
• Judicial agencies - courts, bailiffs, lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service
• Government departments/agencies
• Other local authorities, including Planning and Environmental Health Services
• Voluntary organisations
• Witnesses, including expert witnesses
• Trade and/or sector associations.

Who we share your information with

We may need to share your information with:

• The Planning Inspectorate, if an appeal is lodged (personal details are redacted) and for the Minerals and Waste Local Plan examination (contact details and signature will be redacted)
• The public via our website (name, contact details and signature will be redacted for planning applications, contact details and signature will be redacted for the Minerals and Waste Local Plan)
• The public via request of inspection of hardcopy (not redacted)
• Other agencies such as the Environment Agency or Natural England
• External consultants and advisors (pre-planning advice only)

For enforcement functions we may also need to share your information with:

• Other enforcers or regulators, including Environment Agency, Natural England
• Other local authorities, including Planning and Environmental Health Services
• Government departments/agencies - Department for Food & Rural Affairs, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Department for Levelling Up, Homes and Communities
• Police
• Judicial agencies - courts, bailiffs, lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service
• Voluntary organisations and charities
• Witnesses, including expert witnesses.

Only the minimum information for the purpose will be shared.

Your personal information may also be given to third parties contracted by the County Council to provide a service to the County Council. These service providers are known as data processors and have a legal obligation under GDPR and to the County Council to look after your personal information and only use it for providing that service.

How the law protects you and the legal basis for processing your information

We have legal grounds under the GDPR to process this information because it is necessary:

• For the performance of a task carried out in the public interest and the task or function has a clear basis in law. These statutory powers and duties are:
  • Town and County Planning Act 1990 and associated regulations
  • Waste (England & Wales) Regulations 2011
  • Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
  • Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and associated regulations
  • The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014
  • Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985
  • Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015
  • Localism Act 2011
  • Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012

How long your personal information will be kept

We will retain your information, including personal data, for a minimum of 4 years as required by the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 at which point, we will determine whether your information should be archived in the public interest or securely destroyed.

All planning applications are held on a public register and will not be deleted as they may be used for monitoring implementation of permissions and conditions and considering permitted development rights. When the information is no longer needed for the above purposes, it will be securely deleted.

If the above caveats do not apply or have expired, and your information is no longer needed for the above purposes, it will be securely deleted.

How we keep your information

The information is stored electronically, on the County Council's network including records management systems and in paper files.

We do not process your information outside of the European Economic Area.

Automated decision making

We do not make automated decisions about you.

Changes to this notice

We may amend this privacy notice at any time so please review it frequently. The date below will be amended each time this notice is updated.

This notice was last updated on 16 May 2024.