Planning policy

Who will own my data once I submit It?

We will own your data once it has been submitted.

Why do you need my information?

If you comment on one of our Local Development Framework documents or a Neighbourhood Plan or Neighbourhood Development Order, we will collect your name, postal address and email address (if provided).

We will only use your personal information for the preparation of development plan documents or any subsequent statutory replacement.

Your name and comments will be made publicly available on our consultation portal when displaying and reporting the outcome of the consultation stage, and so cannot be treated as confidential.

Any other personal details including your home address, email address, telephone number and signature will be treated as confidential.

You can also ask us to add your details to our database without submitting any comments so that we can let you know about future consultations.

If you are represented by an agent, we will usually send any notifications to them unless you have specifically asked to be contacted directly.

You can choose which consultations and documents you would like to be contacted about and whether you would prefer to be contacted by email or post, although we would prefer to use an email address if possible to reduce the amount of paper used and improve sustainability.

We may also from time to time contact you or your company directly to gather information for evidence base documents, such as the Local Aggregate Assessment (LAA).

All information provided to us in the preparation of the LAA will be treated as confidential and will not be passed to any other person or published in a format that would enable an individual or company to be linked to the information provided.

What allows you to use my information?

When you comment on an application we are collecting your information as part of our public duties as a local authority, in order to comply with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 and the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations 2012.

The legislation requires us to invite representations at specific stages in the preparation of the Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans.

We contact minerals and waste operators in connection with the LAA in its capacity as minerals and waste planning authority.

If you also wish to know when a local plan inspector or neighbourhood plan examiner publishes his/her recommendations, and when we make a decision on the adoption of a local plan or making of a neighbourhood plan, we will rely on your consent to be added to our notification mailing list.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by email or post.

• Email: planningpolicy@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
• By post: Planning Policy, Cheshire West and Chester Council, The Portal, Wellington Road, Ellesmere Port, CH65 0BA

Who will my information be shared with?

All duly made comments on the publication local plan will be submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination.

If you ask to appear at the examination hearing, your contact details will also be provided to the Programme Officer who will contact you to make the arrangements for the hearing.

Comments made on a neighbourhood plan at publicity stage will be submitted to an independent examiner for their consideration as part of the examination.

These examinations do not usually require a hearing, but again if the examiner wishes to invite anyone to a hearing, their contact details will be shared with the Programme Officer to make these arrangements.

Comments will also be put into the public domain, including on our website. Your data will be processed by the Planning Policy team.

If your comments include anything which is outside the scope of our planning policy documents, we may forward your details to one of our other departments so that they can respond to you.

All information provided to us in the preparation of the LAA will be treated as confidential and will not be passed to any other person or published in a format that would enable an individual or company to be linked to the information provided.

Do I have to provide this information and what will happen if I don't?

Processing of the representations you make is necessary in connection with development plan documents, including the local plan under the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, and neighbourhood plans under the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations 2012 (as amended). We are unable to accept anonymous comments.

We rely on your consent to use your information for future notifications. As such you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

If, after submitting comments on a planning policy document, you ask us to remove your details from our database, your address/email address will be removed. However, any comments already considered in an examination or which have led to changes being made to a document will be kept on our system along with your name.

Comments that have not yet been considered or forwarded to an examiner can be deleted but will not be taken into account in the examination. We can explain which of your comments this will apply to on request.

For LAA information, personal information is not required but we do ask for the company’s contact details in case of follow up queries and for future surveys associated with the LAA.

How long will you keep this data for and why?

We only keep hold of information for as long as is necessary. This depends on what the specific information is and the agreed retention period.

Data is disposed of permanently after this period, in line with our retention policy/schedule or the specific requirements of the organisation who has shared the data with us.

For planning policy documents including submitted representations (comments), the retention schedule states that we should keep these permanently, and offer them to our archivist for review when they are no longer required for administrative purposes.

How will my information be stored?

Your information will be stored electronically on our consultation system, Objective. Access is restricted to our Planning Policy team.

If you have an email address registered you can login to view your own records (contact information and preferences, and any comments that you have submitted) and you can update your own details if necessary.

Any email correspondence, and scanned copies of letters received by post, will also be stored electronically on the Planning Policy team’s shared filing system.

Hard copies are often required during examinations but will be destroyed using confidential disposal when no longer needed.

Your rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

• your right of access - you have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information
• your right to rectification - you have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
• your right to restriction of processing - you have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances
• your right to object to processing - you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

To make a request follow the instructions on our Data Protection for you page.

Who can I complain to if I am unhappy about how my data is used?

You can complain directly to our Data Protection Team online or by email.

• By post: Phil Orchard, Data Protection Officer, HQ, Nicholas Street, Chester, CH1 2NP

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

• By post: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
• Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45

Will this information be used to take automated decisions about me?

No.

Will my data be transferred abroad and why?

No.