Flood and Water Management: Survey data privacy notice
We keep this privacy notice under regular review and was last updated on 4 February 2025.
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 (KCC) is the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) for Kent. As the LLFA, we have responsibility for managing local flooding, which is flooding that arises from: surface water, ordinary watercourses and groundwater.
The Flood and Water Management Service within Kent County Council (KCC) would like to use the data collected from the survey to:
- gather information about flood events and to inform Section 19 flood investigations as required by the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. Personal data will never be published within a Section 19 flood investigation, however we may contact you in relation to reports you make to us.
- to assess whether customers are satisfied with our service and improve it where necessary; and, respond to requests for information under the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.
The form should be completed after experiencing flooding.
Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.
The personal information we collect and use
Information collected by us
In the course of carrying out flood surveys we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:
- your name
- your address
- your contact details (landline and mobile telephone numbers, and email address).
How we use your personal information
We use your personal information to:
- gather information about flood events and to inform Section 19 flood investigations as required by the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. Personal data will never be published within a Section 19 flood investigation, however we may contact you in relation to reports you make to us.
- to assess whether customers are satisfied with our service and improve it where necessary; and, respond to requests for information under the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.
Reasons we can collect and use your personal information
We rely on public task (Article 6(1)(e) and legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c) as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data.
- compliance with a legal obligation.
- to perform a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority.
The provision of your name, address and contact details is required from you to enable us to store flood data on our internal systems and to inform flood investigations in Kent.
As we have a statutory basis for collecting your personal data if you do not provide the above information we may not be able to provide the service to the individual.
How long your personal data will be kept
Your completed application and any other personal information (for example, in a land drainage consent form) will be stored securely for 6 years, after which time, it will be permanently deleted (whether successful or not).
Who we share your personal information with
For a list of our risk management authority partners, please see our latest Local Flood Risk Management Strategy - Kent County Council. We may share your personal information with third parties such as the environment agency, a local authority, the emergency services, or a water company.
We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law or in connection with legal proceedings.
Your rights
Under the UK GDPR you have a number of rights which you can access free of charge which 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
- 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:
- object to how we are using your information
- 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
- 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 the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation.
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 United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner online or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.
For further information visit our main privacy notice.