Skip to content

Historic treescapes grant privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and it was last updated on 7 December 2023.

Kent County Council (KCC) 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. This project is being delivered as part of the Trees Outside Woodland programme which is developing innovative and sustainable new ways to increase tree cover to address both climate and ecological emergencies. KCC’s Soft Landscapes Team are managing this project which will provide funding to landowners within eligible areas (Dover District Area.). Landowners will be a mixture of individuals, companies, organisations, charities, businesses etc. Where funding will be provided for the restoration of historic individual trees, hedgerows, copses and orchards. In addition, this process will also see follow-up maintenance grants when feasible. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

The personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of managing the Historic Treescape Grant (via an online application form on kent.gov.uk) we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • Contact details such as name, address, postcode, email address and telephone numbers
  • Name/your business name
  • Financial details to enable us to pay you the grant funds
  • Landowner status such as whether you are a resident, landowner, tenant farmer etc.

We will collect the following other information:

  • Project financial information such as breakdown of costs of the project you are applying for funding for, including any quotations received.
  • Project information such as the planned start and end date of your tree planting and project stages, species selection and tree protection.
  • Details regarding the plot of land for planting the trees such as drawings or photos showing the location of land to be used, GPS coordinates or ordnance survey grid reference, size of the area to be planted and current site usage.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • contact eligible landowners regarding their funding application
  • issue grants to eligible landowners
  • ensure the planting project is appropriate for the landowner site
  • check in advance if your proposed planting area is eligible for funding
  • monitor the progress and status of the landowner planting
  • contact you regarding the health of your trees (to find out survival rates of your trees etc)
  • evaluate the success and effectiveness of the Treescape planting project trial
  • contact you regarding any potential future projects or grants relating to the Treescape planting project trial.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We rely on Article 6(1)(a) Consent – the data subject has given clear consent as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data.

  • We have a Retention Schedule which explains how long data is retained
  • We maintain a record of our processing in our ‘Record of Processing Activities’ and record in it any reasons for deviating from the periods in our Retention Schedule.

The provision of your name, your business name, address, telephone number and email address is required from you to enable us to contact you about the grant funding and any potential future projects or grants relating to the Treescape planting project trial.

The provision of your financial details is required from you to enable us to arrange payment of the grant

The provision of your land details is required from you to enable us to ensure the planting project is appropriate for the landowner site and that your proposed planting area is eligible for funding

As we have use consent as the basis for collecting your personal data if you do not provide name, business name, telephone, address, or email we may not be able to contact you regarding your request for a grant or any potential future projects or grants relating to the Treescape planting project trial. If you do not provide your financial details we may not be able to arrange payment of the grant funds. If you do not provide your land details we may not be able to ensure that the planning project is appropriate for the landowner site and check that the proposed planting area is eligible for funding

How long your personal data will be kept

We will keep your contact details, financial details, landowner status details, project information and details regarding the plot of land up until the end of the project (April 2025).

Who we share your personal information with

We routinely share:

  • non-personal anonymised summary data with DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs), Natural England, Tree Council, Fera, KCC, Shropshire County Council, Cornwall County Council, Norfolk County Council and Chichester County Council regarding the survival tree rates, size of area used etc. DEFRA will be feeding the outcome of the non-personal tree data analysis reporting and funding back to HM Treasury.
  • non-personal anonymised summary data regarding the tree survival rates, size of area used etc. with Natural England, who analyse information from KCC and other partners who also supply the same data to them.
  • non-personal anonymised summary financial information with Fera regarding the cost effectiveness of this project across all partners.
  • non-personal anonymised location information of proposed planting areas with Fera and DEFRA to display on a map-based Trees Outside Woodland website, which shows which areas are eligible for funding.

This data sharing enables us to evaluate the success and effectiveness of the Treescape planting project and to display which areas are eligible for funding.

The online application process is administrated using an online form called GovService which is provided by a third party (Granicus). As we transfer your data to the Republic of Ireland (which is outside of the UK), we rely on UK GDPR Article 45 which states that this transfer may take place where there are ‘adequacy regulations’ determining that data is adequately protected by the laws in that country. A copy of this decision can be found in section 102 of Schedule 2 of the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (2019/419).

We have a data processing agreement in place with our third party providers who process your data on our behalf.

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 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.

Your Right to Withdraw your Consent

Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you can withdraw your consent to our use of your data at any time.

You can do this by emailing the Tree Grant team via TreeGrant@kent.gov.uk with a statement of withdrawal.

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

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 online with the Information Commissioner or you can contact the ICO by telephone using 0303 123 1113.

For further information visit our main privacy notice.