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Brown tourism sign applications privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and was last updated on 1 September 2022.

Kent County Council respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

Who we are

Kent County Council collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (‘UK GDPR’) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information. Kent County Council’s Highway Improvements team are responsible for the Brown Tourism Sign applications process. They are responsible for assessing the application, designing the signs, and installing the Brown Tourism Signs. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

Personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

As part of applying for a Brown Tourism Sign via an online application form available from the www.kent.gov.uk website we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • Name and contact details of applicant i.e. name, address, phone number, mobile number, email address and postcode.
  • Photograph(s), pictures or drawings showing proposed location of the Brown Tourism Sign.
  • Photograph metadata i.e. date, time and location of when and where you took the photo showing the proposed location of the Brown Tourist Sign, when you send a digital photo to us. This data will not be shared outside of KCC.
  • Financial information to make a payment for the service to be provided. Payments can be made through GOV.UK Pay.

Read GOV.UK Pay's privacy notice and GOV.UK Pay's website cookie policy.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal data to:

  • help you apply for a Brown Tourism Sign and provide you with a service
  • arrange the initial payment of a Brown Tourism Sign application in relation to feasibility and compliance
  • arrange future payments regarding your Brown Tourism Sign application in relation design of signs and installation of signs
  • contact you to inform you regarding the outcome of your Brown Tourism Sign application and as part of any review of the decision by Kent County Council
  • contact you regarding an enquiry with regards to your Brown Tourism Sign application
  • keep you up to date regarding the progress of the installation of your Brown Tourism Sign
  • investigate any historic applications regarding your Brown Tourism Sign
  • arrange with you the removal of your Brown Tourism Sign, should you request this.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will keep your contact details (name, address, email address, telephonen umbers) on our customer enquiry database and retain them for up to 6 years. After 6 years, your contact details will be automatically deleted from our customer enquiry database.

Your completed Brown Tourism Sign application form containing your contact details (along with any documents relating to your Brown Tourism application such as photos, emails, plans and decisions) will be held indefinitely, or until you request us to remove your Brown Tourist Sign. This allows us to reply to an enquiry from you with regards to the original documentation, access the sign design information and contact you in the event the sign is damaged or missing and you’ve requested it needs replacing.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

The provision of personal information is required from you to enable us to provide you with a service in relation to applying for a Brown Tourism Sign.

If you do not provide your personal information, we will be unable to process your application for a Brown Tourism Sign or contact you.

We rely on:

  • article 6(1)(e) - necessary for the performance of a public task in the public interest. Public interest being access to tourist areas for personal health and wellbeing
  • article 6(1)(b) – ‘processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party’. The data subject’s contract with us is via agreeing to our terms and conditions at the time the Brown Tourism Sign application is submitted.

The provision of personal information is required from you to enable us to process your Brown Tourist Sign application and provide a service to you.

Who we share your personal information with

We routinely share your information with;

  • Relevant teams within Kent County Council in relation to the application and installation of your Brown Tourism Sign
  • Commissioned providers of local authority services (i.e. GOV.UK Pay financial services and Granicus for the online application form).

This data sharing enables us to manage your Brown Tourism Sign application and provide you with service.

The online application process is administrated using an online form provided by a third party (Granicus). The data you provide in your application is transferred to, stored on, and processed on servers located outside of the UK to countries in the EU. This is based on an adequacy decision authorised by Part 3, Schedule 21 to the Data Protection Act 2018 (as amended).

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law or in connection with legal proceedings. We will share personal information with our legal and professional advisers in the event of a dispute, complaint, or claim. We rely on Article 9(2)(f) where the processing of special category data is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have rights which you can exercise free of charge that allow you to:

  • know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
  • ask to see what information we hold about you (subject access request)
  • ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
  • object to direct marketing
  • make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

  • ask us to delete information we hold about you
  • have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
  • object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
  • object to how we are using your information
  • stop us using your information in certain ways.

We will always seek to comply with your request however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note, your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under GDPR.

If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Who to contact

Please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for.

You can contact our Data Protection Officer, Benjamin Watts, at dpo@kent.gov.uk.

The UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with Information Commissioner, who may be contacted via the Information Commissioner's website or call 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.