Planning and Building Control privacy notice

Who we are

We are the Planning and Building Control department for the London Borough of Redbridge. This privacy notice explains how we use information in the course of our work as a local planning authority.

This work includes:

• Processing and making decisions on planning and building regulations applications (including dangerous structures)
• Providing pre-application advice on proposed developments
• Making planning policies
• Processing and monitoring CIL and S106
• Responding to and investigating alleged breaches of planning regulation
• Monitoring development
• Street naming and numbering
• Entering legal agreements and serving notices
• Maintaining registers (such as the self-build register)

If you have questions about data or privacy please contact our data protection officer at data.protection@redbridge.gov.uk.

 

How we get your information

We get applicant information in two ways –

• It is supplied to us directly (or via a planning agent on their behalf)
• Or we receive it from a third-party website that provides a transaction service, such as the national Planning Portal for planning application submission.

We also receive names, address, and contact information (email addresses and phone numbers) when we receive comments, enforcement reports and questions via our own online submission systems, by email, and by post.

When making a payment for Planning or Building Control services directly to the Council we may collect your bank or card details. These will only be used to process your payment, and will not be retained or shared.

 

What we do with your information

To allow us to make decisions on their applications, individuals must provide us with some personal data (e.g. name, address, contact details). In a small number of circumstances individuals will provide us with ‘special category data’ in support of their application (for example evidence of medical history) – this special category data would not be published. We use the information provided to us to make decisions about the use of land in the public interest. The lawful basis for this is known as a ‘public task’ and is why we do not need your explicit consent for your information to be used.

Some information provided to us we are legally obliged to make available on planning registers. This is a permanent record of our planning decisions that form part of the planning history of a site, along with other facts that form part of the ‘land search’.

The complainant identity (name, address, email address etc) for an enforcement report will never be disclosed or shared outside of the Council.

 

How we share your information

We do not sell your information to other organisations.

We do not use your information for automated decision making.

We will not disclose any information to any third party except to prevent fraud, or if required to do so by law.

We make details of planning applications we receive available online so that other people can contribute their comments.

Please note –

• We do publish the name and address of the applicant applying for planning permission if this is included on the application form. If you do not wish your name and address to be on the public register then please ensure your agent does not include these on the application form – they can put ‘C/O Agent’ instead.
• We don’t publish any personal signatures, email addresses or phone numbers. We will publish business signatures, email addresses or phone numbers, such as those for an agent or professional body.
• We do not publish comments received on planning applications by members of the public or other interested parties. A summary of the received comments will be included in the officer report (this may include the addresses of the commenters).
• We do not publish comments received on planning applications by statutory consultees. A summary of the received comments will be included in the officer report.

In circumstances where a planning application is appealed, we are required to share data from the application with the Planning Inspectorate. This will include copies of all comments made by statutory consultees and members of the public/interested parties. We will only redact special category data from the comments, as well as personal email addresses, phone numbers and signatures. A copy of all documents supplied to the Inspectorate, including the comments, is also required to be sent to the appellant (or their agent if they have one).

Planning Policy may also share representations with the Planning Inspectorate in the same way when they examine our local plan.

 

Redaction (blanking things out)

We operate a policy where we routinely redact the following details before making forms and documents available online:

• Personal contact details (email addresses and phone numbers)
• Personal signatures
• Special Category Data
• Information previously agreed to be confidential

If you are submitting supporting information which you would like to be treated confidentially or wish to be specifically withheld from the public register, then please let us know as soon as you can – ideally in advance of submitting the application – through a contact form.

 

Retention (how long we keep your information for)

We process many different types of information according to our retention policy.

Documents on the statutory register (including planning decisions, approved plans etc) are retained and published in perpetuity.

Comments from neighbours/interested parties are retained for a period of 4 years from a decision being made. These are not published at any point.

Some supporting or other documents relating to major or otherwise significant developments may be retained longer, if there is sufficient reason to do so.

 

Complaints and problems

Making decisions on planning matters is a public task and you do not have the right to withdraw consent for your data to be processed. However, if you think we have got something wrong or there is a reason you would prefer for something to not be disclosed, please ask us by completing a contact form.

If you need to make a complaint specifically about the way we have processed your data, you should in the first instance use our corporate complaints policy. If we fail to respond properly you can direct your concerns to the Information Commissioners Office.

 

Relevant legislation and regulations

• Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (As Amended)
• The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012
• The Building Act 1984 (As Amended)
• The Housing and Planning Act 2016
• The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• Planning Act 2008
• Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
• Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
• The Localism Act 2011
• The London Building Act (Amendment) Act 1939
• The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010
• The Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012
• The Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Regulations 2016

 

Further information

Please see further information on privacy and cookies.

The Data Protection law gives you the right to apply for a copy of information about yourself. This is called a Subject Access Request. Find out more about how to make a Subject Access Request.