Planning policy privacy notice

This privacy notice explains how the Waltham Forest Council (Planning Policy Team) uses personal data when engaging with individuals, resident groups, stakeholders and organisations in carrying out the statutory duties. Specifically, this work includes:

• Preparation of Local Plans, Supplementary Planning Documents, the Statement of Community Involvement, Article 4 Directions
• Working with neighbouring authorities on other strategic plans and policies
• Keeping of registers, such as the Self Build and Custom Housebuilding Register
• Collection and administration of the Community Infrastructure Levy
• Administering Assets of Community Value listing process
• Monitoring of S106 Planning Obligations
• Working with community groups on Neighbourhood Planning
• Data collection and development monitoring 

The Council’s Planning Policy team can be contacted

Email planning.policy@walthamforest.gov.uk

This relates to basic personal information such as:

• Your name, address, telephone number, email address or other personal details are voluntarily provided through our consultation portal or provided in support of a planning application.   
• At times, we may need or you will want to supply other personal information such as your gender, ethnic status, medical, health, details on vulnerabilities, financial information etc. The type of information we collect will depend on the nature of the project, enquiry or request. We will never ask for more personal data than is necessary. The GDPR provides extra protection for certain classes of information called 'special categories’ of personal data e.g. race, ethnic origin, health or sexual orientation. If any of the information you provide falls within this category, we will seek your explicit consent.

The Council collects and use this personal data in order to operate as a statutory body when undertaking a public task. Typically it is collected and processed in order to help service delivery in the production of local and neighbourhood plans, to meet statutory requirements, for research including consultation and for writing reports and making decisions.

The legal basis for processing personal data is for carrying out the Council’s statutory duties with regard to the preparation of the Local Plan and other planning policy documents, administration of the Community Infrastructure Levy, Assets of Community Value and monitoring of S106 agreements. The relevant legislation includes the following, but is not necessarily limited to these:

• The Town and Country Planning Act 1990
• The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012
• The Planning Act 2008
• The Housing and Planning Act 2016
• The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• The Localism Act 2011
• The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010
• The Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012
• The Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Regulations 2016

Our legal reason(s) for using your information: 

a. We are under a legal obligation to process your information

b. Processing is necessary for the performance of a public task

As part of the Local Plan preparation process, we may need to share your information with the Planning Inspectorate/Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when legally required to do so.

If you submit representations at the statutory publication stage of the Local Plan and onwards, we are legally required to pass on your comments to the Planning Inspectorate/Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the Local Plan is submitted for examination. If you do not wish your details to be passed on to the Planning Inspectorate then the Council and the Planning Inspector will not be able to take your comments into account as anonymous comments are not permissible.

We will process the information you provide in a manner that is compatible with the Data Protection Act.

We will not pass on your personal data for third party marketing purposes.

Personal data will be kept for the duration of the process of producing a Local Plan, which may take several years.

Once a new Local Plan has been adopted we will consider the need to retain your information and may contact you to check the details we hold are up to date, and that you wish to be contacted about future Local Plan work.

Our Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Hynes, you contact him by email at data.protectionofficer@walthamforest.gov.uk

Protecting your information

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Your information choice and rights

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Complaints and contact details

These are included in the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Information Commissioner’s Office

If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)