Planning Service Privacy Notice

For the processing to which this notice relates to be carried out we use the following information:

• personal information (such as: your name, address, telephone number)

We might also use sensitive personal information, such as information about your physical health if it is relevant to your planning or building regulation application (for example, as evidence of exemption of a fee for a registered disabled person).

We might collect your information from:

• You directly e.g. by asking you to complete an online application form, when you comment on a planning application, you respond to a consultation, or if you contact us for example for a building control site visit
• Via our online application platform services and associated payment channels
• From third parties e.g. comments, representations, allegations and questions via email, letter and through other platforms.

There are some services where the law requires you to provide certain information for example, for a certificate of lawfulness, or for building control applications. If you don’t give us this information then we will be unable to process your application for these services.

Your information is used for purposes including:

• Making decisions about the use of land and development in the public interest (a “public task”).
• Making certain information permanently available on planning registers (for example, for land searches).
• Monitoring and reviewing the planning process through customer satisfaction surveys. If you apply or comment, you may be contacted to complete a survey; responses will be anonymised if published and participation is voluntary.
• Legal and policy work: dealing with planning and building control applications, appeals, complaints, correspondence and enforcement; creating & updating planning policy documents; advice on conservation, ecology, trees, etc.
• We use computer tools (AI and automation) to help our planning officers deal with large amounts of information. The tools can create short summaries of plans and public comments, and point out possible issues with applications such as omissions, inaccuracies or incorrect information. They don’t undertake detailed assessments or make decisions on their own, and a planning officer always checks the results provided by these tools as part of their own assessments. No extra personal data is collected, and nothing is sent outside the Council.

The tables below set out the legal basis for each of the activities that this Privacy Notice covers:

Personal Data Activity	Legal Basis - GDPR Article 6	S8 Data Protection Act 2018	UK Legislation
Planning, Building Control and other (e.g. for works on trees, listed buildings and conservation areas) enquiries, applications, appeals, complaints, correspondence and enforcement.   Fee exemptions and planning considerations based on special category information supplied by applicants.   The Local Plan and any future review(s)   Working with neighbourhoods on their plans   Land Searches Entering legal agreements	(1)(e) to do so is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, or in the exercise of official authority.	(c) the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment or rule of law	Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and associated fee Regulations, The Building Act 1984 and various Regulations   Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.   Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended).   Land Charges Act 1972.      Environment Act 2021

Special Category Data Activity	Legal basis - GDPR Article 9	Data Protection Act 2018 condition	UK Legislation
Fee exemptions and planning considerations based on special category information supplied by applicants.	(2)(g) processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.	Paragraph 6(2)(a) of Part 2 of schedule 1 - the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment or rule of law	Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and associated fee Regulations.

We sometimes need to share your information within the Council or with other organisations. We will only share your information when necessary and when the law allows us to, and we will only share the minimum information we need to. For planning matters your information will be shared in the following ways:

• If you make a Building Control or Planning application your name and address will be published on the Planning Applications Online
• Prior to 1^st July 2024 if you submitted comments about a Planning application your name and address will have been published on the Planning Applications Online. Any comments received from 1^st July 2024 your name and address will be removed before publication 
• If an appeal against a planning decision or notice is made your information will be shared with the Planning Inspectorate.
• If you submit comments about the Local Plan process or supporting planning guidance or other documents that we prepare, your name and comments will be published as part of consultation summary reports and decision making papers amongst the Local Plan web pages.
• If you submit comments about the Neighbourhood Planning process we would share this with the appointed Independent Examiner. Details of whom are published on the Neighbourhood Plan web pages.
• If you make a planning enforcement complaint your details are not published or in the public domain and you are protected under the Data Protection Act, it maybe in very exceptional circumstances evidence that you have is required for the progression of a case in the courts we will not progress the case further until having discussed the case and implications in full with you at that point.
• If you enter a legal agreement with us that secures actions on your land, your name and address will be published on the land charges register.

We generally only share your information where doing so is necessary to planning services; however, in special cases we may also share your information with other individuals and organisations. For example, if you make a complaint to your Councillor, or if the sharing would help with a safeguarding issue, or help prevent a crime. Sometimes, we might share your information without your knowledge

The Council will never sell your information to anyone else.

We will keep your information for different periods of time, depending on what we are using it for. We only keep your information for as long as we need to, after which we will either securely delete the information.

The law gives you specific rights over your information.  These rights are:

• to be informed of our use of information about you;
• of access to information about you;
• rectify information about you that is inaccurate;
• to have your information erased (the ‘right to be forgotten’);
• to restrict how we use information about you;
• to move your information to a new service provider;
• to object to how we use information about you;
• not to have decisions made about you on the basis of automated decision making;
• to object to direct marketing; and,
• to complain about anything the Council does with your information (please see the next section).

Some of the rights listed above apply only in certain situations, and some have a limited effect.  Your rights are explained further in the Individuals’ Rights Procedure on our website, as is how to make a request under one or more of them.

You can request information about yourself by making a subject access request on this page of the Council’s website.

The Council is required by law to have a DPO.  The DPO has a number of duties, including:

• monitoring the Council’s compliance with data protection law;
• providing expert advice and guidance on data protection;
• acting as the point of contact for data subjects; and,
• co-operating and consulting with the Information Commissioner’s Office (see ‘Complaints’ below).

 The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at:

information.governance@doncaster.gov.uk

If you are unhappy with the way in which your information has been handled you should contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer so that we can try and put things right.

Alternatively, and if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can also refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).  The ICO is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights, and they can investigate and adjudicate on any data protection related concerns you raise with them.  They can be contacted via the methods below:

Website:                 www.ico.org.uk

Telephone:              0303 123 1113

Post:                      Information Commissioner’s Office

                              Wycliffe House

                              Water Lane

                              Wilmslow

                              Cheshire

                              SK9 5AF