Privacy and Cookies

Who we are and the purpose of the processing

Broadland District Council, Norwich City Council and South Norfolk Council are working together with Norfolk County Council to prepare the Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP).

This privacy notice explains how we use information in the course of our partnership work as local planning authorities. This work includes:

  • Making decisions and providing advice on planning policies or land use matters
  • Making planning policies
  • Working with neighbourhoods on their plans
  • Working with neighbouring authorities on strategic policies
  • Responding to allegations of unlawful development
  • Monitoring development
  • Entering legal agreements, serving notices and promoting the best use of land

How we get your information

We only collect personal information which you knowingly and willing provide either by emailing us or it is supplied to us via a planning agent on your behalf. We also receive comments, representations, allegations and questions, letter, and online forms through our consultation website. Your email address will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it and it will not be used for any other purpose without your consent.

What we do with your information

To allow us to make decisions and consider your representations, you must provide us with some personal data (e.g. name, address, contact details). In a small number of circumstances individuals will provide us with “special category data” in support/objection of a development site (e.g. evidence of medical history).

We use the information provided to us to make decisions about the use of land in the public interest. This is known as a “public task” and is why we do not need you to “opt in” to allow your information to be used.

Some information provided to us we are obliged under the regulations to make available on planning registers. This is a permanent record of our planning decisions that form part of the planning history of a site, along with other facts that form part of the “land search”.

How we share your information

We do not sell your information to other organisations. We do not move your information beyond the UK. We do not use your information for automated decision making.

We will make comments on the Local Plan available online so that people can contribute their comments. This means that your name will be published online, alongside your comments.  We will sometimes need to share the information we have with other parts of the councils - for example to establish the history of a potential site for future development. We will be obliged to share information with the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) as part of the Local Plan examination which is held publicly, and this may include any personal information that you have submitted with any comments you have made.

Redaction (‘blanking things out’)

We operate a policy where we routinely redact the following details before making forms and documents available online:

  • Personal contact details for the members of the public (excluding Agents) - e.g. telephone numbers, email addresses, postal address
  • Signatures
  • Special Category Data - e.g. supporting statements that include information about, for example, health conditions or ethnic origin
  • Information agreed to be confidential

Sometimes we might decide it is necessary, justified and lawful to disclose data that appears in the list above. In these circumstances we will let you know of our intention before we publish anything.

If you are submitting supporting information which you would like to be treated confidentially or wish to be specifically withheld from the public register, please let us know as soon as you can - ideally in advance of publishing information online. The best way to contact us about this issue is by email to the Greater Norwich Local Plan Team at gnlp@norfolk.gov.uk

Retention (‘how long we keep your information for’)

We process many different types of information according to our retention policy. A brief summary of how long we keep things before they are destroyed:

  • Statutory registers (e.g. planning decisions, approved plans, legal agreements) – forever
  • Supporting documents, reports – 6 years for committee decisions, 4 years for officer decisions
  • Representations, letters, general correspondence on GNLP– up to 1 year after adoption of the new local plan.

Examination Hearings

This section specifically relates to the management and live streaming of GNLP examination hearing meetings which are being held in a virtual environment due to Covid-19 pandemic. It explains how we collect, use, and share your personal data.

Your audio and visual data from your participation in the Local Plan Examination Hearing meetings will be used to broadcast a live stream of the meetings to YouTube to allow public access to view the meetings. To achieve this, open broadcaster software is used to capture the Microsoft Teams meeting and transmit through the YouTube platform. Live stream recordings may be used at the time of the event and the recording will be retained online as a record of the event whilst the local plan is being adopted and for a period of 12 weeks from the initial adoption of the plan (and disposal of any related legal proceedings including any appeals) to address any subsequent legal challenge of the local plan.

In relation to the examination hearings, the situations in which we will process your personal information are listed below:

  • to invite you to participate in a hearing meeting;
  • when we record the hearing meeting;
  • when we livestream the hearing meeting.

There is no statutory obligation on any interested party to participate in the examination hearings, however if you have indicated that you wish to participate, the Programme Officer will ask you for your:

  • name;
  • email or postal address;
  • telephone number.

If you wish to participate in the meeting, names of those invited and participating may be viewable by others taking part in the meeting. We will also live stream the meetings via YouTube so they will be available to view or listen to by members of the public.

Personal information about you will be collected by email, in writing or by telephone contact before the meetings in order to manage your participation. Your voice and image will be collected from the recording of the meeting which is being captured by the councils. The meeting itself is held within the Microsoft Teams software approved by the Planning Inspectorate. Personal information will be processed by the Planning Inspectorate for the purposes of conducting the examination through hosting a specific virtual hearing (local plan) event.

In order to livestream the examination hearing meetings, we will collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you:

  • your voice will be recorded if you speak at the hearing meetings;
  • your image will also be recorded if you use a video feed to speak at the meeting;
  • your name will be recorded when invited to speak and shown on the video wall during the meeting;
  • if joining the meeting by phone your telephone number will be shown on the video wall during the meeting unless you hide it.

We must have a lawful basis for processing your information. The lawful basis for processing your personal data is:

  • The processing is necessary for the Council to perform a task in the public interest of for its official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law. This is required by Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 and Section 20 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.

Your rights

You have rights to

  • Request access to your personal information held by the councils.
  • Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
  • Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information
  • Object to processing.  You have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. In this case, this would have the same effect as withdrawing your agreement, as above.
  • Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you want to exercise any of the rights referred to above, please contact us in writing.

Complaints and problems

Making decisions on planning matters is a ‘public task’ and you do not have the right to withdraw consent. However if you think we have got something wrong or there is a reason you would prefer for something to not be disclosed please ask us – See DPO contact details below.

Data Controller: Norfolk County Council (the County Council) of

County Hall
Martineau Lane
Norwich
Norfolk
NR1 2UA

If you have questions about data or privacy contact the Data Protection Officer, Email: DPO@norfolk.gov.uk, Tel. 01603 222661

Details of Norfolk County Council’s main privacy notice can be found on our website www.norfolk.gov.uk

You also have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues. Further information can be found at www.ico.org.uk

If you need to make a complaint specifically about the way we have processed your data you should in the first instance use our corporate complaints policy at https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/what-we-do-and-how-we-work/have-your-say/compliments-and-complaints/make-a-complaint. If we fail to respond properly you can direct your concerns to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues. Further information can be found at www.ico.org.uk