Forward Planning

The following information provides details on how we may collect use and where appropriate share personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR). It should be read in conjunction with the Council’s privacy notice document.
 

Why we collect personal data

Our forward planning section uses various kinds of information including personal details and sometimes sensitive personal data. This statement sets out the types of information that we collect, how it is stored, displayed, used and retained. In this statement, the term ‘planning policy consultation’ is used to describe all forms of engagement and consultation under the Planning Acts and associated Regulations, and includes Local Plans, Supplementary Planning Documents, Area Action Plans and other associated documents.

We receive comments in relation to proposed planning policy documents. The most common things we use data for are:

• contacting consultees to notify them of a consultation on the Local Plan or associated documents
• notifying other organisations of proposals to seek their views
• providing the consultees’ data and the associated comments to the Planning Inspectorate as part of the plan making process for the Examination in Public
• writing reports and making decisions on Local Plan and other forms of planning policy

Any personal data collected through the planning process will be processed in accordance with the UK Data Protection Legislation.

What personal data we collect

If you submit comments on any ‘planning policy consultation’ we will collect:

• name,
• postal address and/or email address
• contact details (i.e. email address or phone number if provided).

The individual’s and/or organisation’s name and comments are made publicly available as part of the consultation process and we will only use your contact information for notification of the progress of the Local Plan or other Planning Policy work. Your other personal details such as postal address or email address will not be made available.  If an agent has submitted information on your behalf, then both their name and yours will be made publicly available and attributed to the comments made. We will only send any notifications to them unless you have specifically asked to be contacted directly.

Any information you submit in relation to the document to which you are responding will be made publicly available. We will remove personal contact details from such submissions but names and organisation details will be left visible.

We will not publish your phone number or email address online.

If you comment on any ‘planning policy consultation’, we will publish online:

• your name
• your comment, in full (moderated if necessary*).

* All comments have to be checked and processed by an officer before they appear on the consultation portal. Foul or abusive language, or inappropriate or defamatory comments may be removed as will any personal references to either the person writing or a person being written about. You are responsible for the content of your comment. Please ensure that your comment does not contain any information you do not want to appear online (e.g. personal information).

We may monitor and record electronic communications (website, email and phone conversations) for a number of reasons such as:

• staff training
• records of conversations
• the detection, investigation and prevention of crime

We will inform you if your call is being recorded or monitored. 

Emails that we send to you or you send to us, may be retained as a record of contact and your email address stored for future use in accordance with our retention periods. If we need to email sensitive or confidential information to you, we may perform checks to verify the correct email address and may take additional security measures.

See our Data Protection Policy for details on how we define personal and non-personal data.

How we use your personal data

We'll only use your personal data in accordance with data protection legislation, and for the purposes stated in this privacy notice.

We will:

• only ask for what is necessary for the purposes of dealing with your comments on the ‘planning policy consultation’
• protect it and make sure nobody has access to it who shouldn’t
• ensure you know if you have a choice about giving us personal data
• only share your personal data with other Scarborough Borough Council departments or with external partners, agencies and contractors involved in delivering services on our behalf
• make sure we don’t keep it for longer than is necessary
• delete, destroy or anonymise any comments securely when we no longer have a need to keep personal details

We ask that you:

• give us accurate information
• tell us as soon as possible of any changes
• tell us as soon as possible if you notice mistakes in the information we hold about you

From time to time, we may conduct or ask you to take part in a survey to get your feedback, comments and opinions to help us improve our services.

Who we share your personal data with

Consultation on the Local Plan and other Planning Policy documents are held publicly on our consultation portal software hosted by Objective/Keystone who comply with the relevant data protection regulations and information security standards ISO27018. The comments, once processed by an officer are public facing (name and comment only) and can be viewed throughout the plan making process.

The preparation of the Local Plan and such documents is transparent and we do not normally accept anonymous comments. This is due to the potential for abuse and the submission of multiple comments from a single or small number of persons which can significantly skew any results of a consultation exercise.

If you are submitting information or comments which you would like to be treated confidentially or you wish that your name to be specifically withheld from the public register, please let us know at as soon as you can to discuss this matter - ideally in advance of your submission. The best way to contact us about this issue is by email or telephone.

• Email: localplan@scarborough.gov.uk
• Telephone: 01723 232480

We do not disclose or share sensitive or confidential information without your explicit consent except where disclosure is required by law, or where we have good reason to believe that failing to do so would put you or someone else at risk.

We may be required, or permitted, under data protection legislation, to disclose your personal data without your explicit consent, for example if we have a legal obligation to do so, such as for:

• law enforcement
• fraud investigations
• regulation and licensing
• criminal prosecutions
• court proceedings

We must protect public funds and may use personal data and data-matching techniques to detect and prevent fraud, collect taxes and ensure public money is targeted and spent in the most appropriate and cost-effective way. To do this, your personal data may be shared with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, including the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs, the Police and other local authorities.

Our legal basis for collecting and sharing personal data

We collect and process information for Planning as part of our duties, powers and responsibilities as a public authority under Article 6.1 part (e) (Public Task) and Article 9.2 part (g) (Substantial Public Interest) of the General Data Protection Regulations. In order to comply with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 and the Equality Act 2010, the legislation requires us to notify and invite representations throughout the preparation of a Local Plan or other Planning Policy documents.

How long we keep your personal data

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.  We will keep your personal data for in accordance with our retention schedules.  We will delete or destroy your personal data securely.

For the purposes of Local Plan and other policy preparation we propose to keep your personal data up to the conclusion of any period of Judicial Review. Beyond that date if you no longer wish to have your details retained on the Local Plan consultee database your personal details will be removed but your comments will be retained (anonymised). At that time we will write to all persons (with the exception of Statutory consultees) to ask if they wish for their details to be retained or removed. If no response is received within the set period to reply their details will be removed.

At the end of the retention period, we may pass any relevant information to the Archives where it is required or appropriate to do so.

Further processing of personal data

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Notice, then we'll provide you with a new notice.

The new notice will:

• explain this new use before we start the processing
• set out the relevant purposes and processing conditions

Where and whenever necessary, we'll seek your consent to the new processing, if we start to use your personal data for a purpose not mentioned in this Privacy Notice.

See our Data Protection Policy for details about the further processing of personal data.

Personal data from online payments

The personal data you give to us when using our online payment system (for the purchase of any paper copies of Planning documents) will only be used for the recording of your payment. We'll ensure that it is used for no other purpose and is not disclosed to a third party such as other companies or individuals, unless required to do so by law for the prevention of crime and the detection of fraud.

We'll hold it securely and only for as long as is needed. It will then be deleted in line with our Retention and Disposal Policy and Procedures.

See our Data Protection Policy for details on how we process your personal data in connection with online payments.

Your rights relating to your personal data

When we collect your personal data we'll tell you how we are going to use it. Where we process your personal data, you have a number of rights under data protection law.

Find information about your rights on our UK GDPR page.

Further information

If you have any questions, want to exercise your rights, or if you have a complaint about how your information has been used, please contact us at dataprotection@scarborough.gov.uk or on 01723 232323 or write to:

Data Protection Officer
Scarborough Borough Council
Town Hall
St Nicholas Street
Scarborough
North Yorkshire
YO11 2HG