Planning Enforcement - Privacy Notice

Who the Council are and what the Council do

The Council is a data controller under the Data Protection Legislation as the Council collect and process personal information about you in order to provide services and meet our statutory and regulatory obligations.

This notice explains why the Council ask for your personal information, how that information will be used and how you can access your records.

Any questions regarding our privacy practices should be sent to:

Data Protection Officer (DPO)
West Oxfordshire District Council
Council Offices,
Witney OX28 1NB

Email: data.protection@westoxon.gov.uk
Telephone: 01993 861194

Why the Council collect your personal information

Information is collected to assist with the investigation of alleged breaches of planning control & for planning compliance matters. For more information see: Report breach of planning regulations

What is the legal process for collecting and processing this data

There are a number of legal reasons why the Council need to collect and use your personal information. For this service the Council are collecting your personal data for the following purposes:

The fulfilment of the tasks that the Council carry out in the public interest and/or the exercise of our official authority as a local planning authority;
The legal basis for processing data is The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 along with other Legislation which may include, but is not limited to; The Planning Act 2008, The Housing & Planning Act 2016, The Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
For the prevention or detection of crime or fraud.

What type of information is collected from you

The information the Council may collect, include:

Name, postal address, email address and contact phone number including mobile of those reporting alleged breaches of planning control and landowners.
Documents submitted which are deemed relevant to the investigation including Plans, supporting documents and reports which could include evidence in the form of photographs and surveys. The name and qualifications of authors could appear on reports as the Council as business addresses.
Financial information and or personal information relating to the business or personal needs associated with a development.
Legal documents associated with a development.
Correspondence from Landowners, Responses to Planning Contravention notices and results of land registry searches etc.
Sometimes information is provided by a third party such as a developer, an architect, quantity surveyor, or project lead or by a third party such as an eye witness.

What categories of special personal data do we process

We may also collect details relating to an individual's health and criminal offence data where relevant and in the public interest. We may also collect other categories of special data where relevant. Special personal data is defined as information about race, ethnic origin, politics, religion, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics, health, sex life or sexual orientation.

Who the Council may share your information with

The Council retains a register of enforcement notices issued that is available for public inspection.

Enforcement investigation information are not publicly available and are treated confidentially. Any personal information provided to the Council in confidence will be not be disclosed if disclosure would constitute a breach of confidence that could result in legal action being taken against the Council.

During the course of our investigations the Council may share information with external agencies including the Environment Agency, the Police and the County Council where it is lawful to do so. Similarly, the Council may also share information with other services within the Council, our external legal advisors, courts and tribunals.

Any individuals who have notified the Council of an alleged breach of planning control will be updated as the investigation progresses with relevant information.

How long the Council keep information about you

The Council keep your data in perpetuity as stated in our corporate retention policy.

How the Council protect your Information

The Council will not transfer your personal data outside the EU without your consent.

The Council have implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personal data from loss, misuse, or unauthorised alteration or destruction.

Please note that where you are transmitting information to us over the internet this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

For any payments which the Council take from you online the Council will use a recognised online secure payment system. The Council have strict security measures in place to prevent the alteration, loss or misuse of your payment information on our systems. The Council also comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).

The Council will notify you promptly in the event of any breach of your personal data which might expose you to serious risk.

Your rights

You have rights under the Data Protection Legislation:

to access your personal data
to be provided with information about how your personal data is processed
to have your personal data corrected
to have your personal data erased in certain circumstances
to object to or restrict how your personal data is processed
to have your personal data transferred to yourself or to another business in certain circumstances
to be told if the Council have made a mistake whilst processing your data and the Council will self-report breaches to the Commissioner

How you can access, update or correct your information

The Data Protection Legislation allows you to find out what information is held about you, on paper and computer records. This is known as ‘right of subject access’ and applies to your data along with all other personal records.

If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Data Protection Officer at data.protection@westoxon.gov.uk . You are entitled to receive a copy of our records free of charge, within a month.

In certain circumstances access to your records may be limited, for example, if the records you have asked for contain information relating to another person.

The accuracy of your information is important to us to be able to provide relevant services more quickly. The Council are working to make our record keeping more efficient. In the meantime, if you change your address or email address, or if any of your circumstances change or any of the other information the Council hold is inaccurate or out of date please email us or write to us at:

Planning Services
West Oxfordshire District Council
Council Offices
Witney OX28 1NB

Email: customer.services@westoxon.gov.uk

Further information

If you would like to know more about how the Council use your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described in this leaflet, please tell us. Contact the Data Protection Officer at data.protection@westoxon.gov.uk

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner: https://ico.org.uk