Traffic Regulation Orders Consultations privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and was last updated on 4 September 2024.

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.

This notice is for Traffic Regulation Orders Consultations.

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 and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information. Kent County Council Highways and Transportation Department are responsible for Traffic Regulation Orders. A traffic regulation order (TRO) is a legal document that helps manage traffic flow, speed limits, banned turns, one-way streets and where you can park.

Each TRO is advertised and consulted on over 21 days. Anyone can object to, or support, any of the proposed traffic orders before a final decision is made. TRO’s also allow for enforcement of the restrictions that are in place by the police or the local authority. For further information on Traffic Regulation Order, please visit the permanent traffic orders page on kent.gov.uk. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

The personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of responding to Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO) consultations published by Kent County Council either online (via the engagement platform on our website) or sent to Kent County Council by yourself as a paper copy or electronic response we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

• your contact details (e.g. name, address, postcode, email address)
• feedback on the consultation
• cookies.

Any responses submitted by you to a TRO consultation as a hard paper copy will be entered by Kent County Council staff directly into the engagement platform.

We use cookies to record information about your visits to this website. We may collect information based on your browsing (click stream) activities. This information includes pages browsed, projects viewed, tools used, document downloads and video views. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This information is used to improve how the website functions and to understand how users interact with it.

IP addresses are collected for website security purposes by Bang the Table who provide the software for this website. This information will not be linked to your responses and registration information.

We also use Google Analytics to view data related to our website’s traffic and activity. This information may include page visits, length of visit, browser (e.g. Edge, Chrome etc.) or device type (e.g. desktop, mobile etc.) and the site you were on before you clicked over to this website.

IP addresses are held within the Google Analytics platform, which is separate from this website and will not be linked to your responses and registration information.

Some of these cookies are 'strictly necessary' to provide the basic functions of the website and cannot be turned off, while others, if present, have the option of being turned off by users. Click this link to view the Cookie Policy for this website.

We will follow our Data Protection policies to keep your information secure and confidential.

How we use your personal information

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal information securely and retain this for up to 2 years in line with our Traffic Regulation Order consultation process.

Upon receipt of your paper copy response to the Traffic Regulation Order consultation, we will enter your response into the engagement platform website form on your behalf and destroy the paper copy immediately after input.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We rely on UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) processing as ‘necessary for the performance of a public task in the public interest’ and Article 6(1)(c) that processing is ‘necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject’, as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal information.

We do not seek any special category information, but if you do provide sensitive personal information in your response (for example information about your health or disability) then we will rely on the following exception in Article 9(2)(g) ‘processing is necessary for substantial public interest’ (statutory purposes).

The provision of contact details, including name, address or email address is required from you to enable us to respond to your feedback on consultations. The Council is required to collect personal information in line with requirements under the statutory process The Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996.

Who we share your personal information with

We may share your personal information and consultation response comments with those listed below who may need to help us respond to your feedback. In some cases that may include your name and contact details.

We may share your personal data with:

• Council staff within the Highways and Transportation department who are responsible for carrying out analysis of responses.

All personal information will be removed and an anonymised consultation feedback report regarding the proposed scheme will then be shared with developers and consultants that are responsible for the scheme, along with the Council Cabinet Committee and local district Joint Transport Board. This allows them the opportunity to modify the scheme if necessary, following the consultation process.

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 UK GDPR you have rights which you can exercise 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 Commissioners 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

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioners Office 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 right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner who may be contacted on 03031 231113.

For further information, read our privacy statement.