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Planning applications privacy notice

Who we are

Kent County Council Planning Applications Group, as the County Planning Authority (CPA), has a statutory duty to control development within Kent which relates to:

  • mineral workings (extraction, processing etc.) like sand, gravel, ragstone, clay and other materials within Kent;  
  • the recycling, recovery, processing or disposal of waste
  • the county council’s own development such as schools, sports facilities and libraries.

Kent County Council is a data controller because it determines why and how your data is being collected and how it is processed. Processing is anything that is done with personal data including collecting, recording, storing, use and sharing.

Your privacy is very important to us. The information we collect is used to help improve the service we give you. All information will be dealt with in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR).

Information collected by us

Personal information collected by the Planning Applications Group consists of names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, signatures and any other information that an individual may provide to us within the content of their planning application or representation.

How we use your personal information

We store and process information as we are required in order to comply with our legal obligation as the CPA.  

We store and use personal information included within planning applications and submitted to us within a consultation response or neighbour representation in order to determine planning applications submitted to us and to follow the legal processes in decision making.

Anyone can submit comments to object, support or comment on an application but comments must be made in writing and cannot be anonymous.

Therefore, any correspondence must contain personal information such as a name, address, email address and/or telephone number.

Any views/comments received will be taken into account when deciding the application, and will be sent to the Secretary of State if referral is necessary, and the planning inspectorate in the event of an appeal. Personal information is used for the purpose of the planning process only.

How long your personal information will be kept

All information submitted within a planning application, consultee and neighbour representations, and petitions, including names, addresses, signatures and contact details, will be retained by the council on a permanent basis and will form part of the Statutory Planning Register (which is held by the relevant borough/district council).

Reasons we collect and use your personal information

We collect and use your personal information as a public authority where it is necessary for the performance of a public task in the public interest.

We also collect and use your personal information where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation, such as to determine a planning application.

Who we share your personal information with

Any planning application correspondence submitted to Kent County Council Planning Applications Group may be shared with other organisations and other parts of the County Council for the purpose of the planning process only. Copies may also be provided to third parties, such as the applicant, agent and/or consultees.

If you comment on a planning application we will remove personal details (your telephone number, email address and signature) from the comment before sharing with other organisations.

All information (including personal data) stored on our databases may be managed and hosted by a contract with an external provider.

We do not currently publish consultation or neighbour comments received on a planning application online on our website. However, we do share consultee comments and neighbour comments with the district/borough council (as required as part of our public task) and they may then publish your comment on their website in accordance with their own policies.

Where relevant, all correspondence received will be sent to the Courts or the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) in the event of a legal challenge or complaint to the LGO.

Applicants and Agents should note that all information submitted as part of the planning application will be made publicly available and will be shared with third-parties where necessary, including district or borough councils, statutory consultees, neighbouring properties and any other parties at the council’s discretion.

Any information which the application or agent does not want to be available in the public domain should not be included as part of the planning application.

Your rights

Under the 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 (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:

  • object to how we are using your information (where your information is necessary for the performance of a public task in the public interest)
  • 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 Commissioners Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under GDPR.

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 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.

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, or write to: Data Protection Officer, Sessions House, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ.

GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted on 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.