Skip to content

Section 38 and Section 278 agreements privacy notice

Working with developers, consultants and contractors

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and it 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 privacy notice is associated with Section 38 and Section 278 agreement requests.

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 and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

This privacy notice belongs to the Highways department who manage all Development Agreements and whom work with developers, consultants and contractors to ensure that Section 38 and Section 278 agreements have been adhered to.

Section 38 of the Highways Act 1980 provides that when planning consent has been granted for a new development, developers may ask the highway authority to ‘adopt’ new roads that have been constructed as part of the development, along with associated infrastructure such as drains, lighting and supporting structures.

Section 278 of the Highways Act 1980 allows a developer to carry out works to the public highway. This is generally necessary where planning permission has been granted for a development that requires improvements to, or changes to, public highways

Personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of working with developers, consultants and contractors as part of the Section 38 and Section 278 agreements.

As part of the above agreements we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • name and contact details – which can include address, phone number, email address and preferred contact method
  • financial information to make a payment for the service to be provided. Payments can be made by cheque or BACS (Kent County Council account).

How we use your personal information

We use your personal data to:

  • provide a paid service to our customers who contact our highways department as part of a Section 38 and Section 278 agreement
  • arrange payment of agreements fees
  • investigate enquiries and complaints
  • contact you regarding an enquiry or complaint
  • contact you regarding a change in service or inform you of a new service relevant to you.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal information securely and retain it for 6 years in accordance with Kent County Council’s Retention Schedule.

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 a Section 38 and Section 278 agreement.

If you do not provide your personal information we will be unable to contact you as part of the processing of a Section 38 and Section 278 agreement.

We rely on processing is ‘necessary for the performance of a public task in the public interest’, ‘to comply with a legal obligation to which (Kent County Council) is subject’ (i.e. Section 38 and Section 278 agreement) and ‘necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party’ (i.e. developers will sign a new s38 and s278 agreement with Kent County Council and a Bondsman, and Mortgage provided if needed) being the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal information.

Who we share your personal information with

We routinely share:

  • council teams as part of the agreement process and payment of agreement fees.
  • commissioned providers of local authority services (i.e. Invicta Law).

This data sharing enables us to process your agreement.

We have a data processing agreement in place with commissioned providers of local authority services (such as Invicta Law) who process your data on our behalf.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.

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 Commissioner's 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.