Highways land enquiries and stopping up orders privacy notice
We keep this privacy notice under regular review and it was last updated on 2 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.
Who we are
Kent County Council (KCC) 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 and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.
The personal information we collect and use
Information collected by us
In the course of serving customers who contact the highways department to apply for information relating to a land enquiry (i.e. CON29 applications, Highway definition applications and stopping up Orders) we may collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:
- name
- address
- phone number
- email address
- financial information (payments for Stopping up orders are made via Invicta Law direct)
How we use your information
We use your personal data to:
- provide a paid service to our customers for land searches and land ownership details.
- arrange payment of the application fees
- deliver services and support to you
- investigate an enquiry or complaint
- contact you regarding an enquiry or complaint
- contact you regarding a change in service or inform you of a new service relevant to you.
Read the highways fault reporting, enquiries, complaints and recharges privacy notice to find out how we keep your information secure in relation to an enquiry or complaint, when you apply for information relating to a land enquiry via our highways online fault reporting page.
How long your personal data will be kept
We will hold your personal information securely and retain it for the following periods:
| Information to be held: | Length of time retained: |
|---|---|
Customers contact details received as part of customer enquiries. | Up to 6 years in accordance with our retention schedule. |
Highway boundary ownership and legal information which accompanies customer enquiries. | Permanently held. For use in any future legal enquiries in order to justify highway boundary area. |
Cheque payments received by the Highways Definition Team as part of an enquiry. | Cheque details are destroyed once cheque has been paid in, cleared and accepted in our finance system. |
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 paid service in relation to supplying you with land enquiry or application.
If you do not provide your personal information we will be unable to contact you with a response to your land enquiry or application.
We rely on 'processing is necessary for the performance of a public task in the public interest’ and 'in order to comply with a legal obligation to which (Kent County Council) is subject’ (i.e. to follow the Stopping Up Order process) being the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal information.
We rely on:
- Article 6(1)(e) - necessary for the performance of a public task in the public interest.
- Article 6(1)(c) – comply with a legal obligation to which (Kent County Council) is subject i.e. Stopping Up Order process
The provision of personal information is required from you to enable us to process your highway definition application, CON29 or Stopping Up Order application and provide a paid service to you.
We routinely share your information with services within the council who provide you with a paid service in relation to your land enquiry or application.
This information would be shared with commissioned providers of local authority services (i.e. Invicta Law, GEN2 Property and payment services)
This data sharing enables us to supply you with accurate information regarding your land enquiry.
We have a data processing agreement in place with commissioned providers of local authority services (such as Invicta Law, GEN2 Property and payment services) who process your data on our behalf.
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
- withdraw consent at any time (if applicable)
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 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.
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 who may be contacted on 03031 231113.
For further information, read our privacy statement.