Privacy
Who we are
We are the Strategic Planning Team at Harborough District Council. This privacy notice explains how we use your information in the course of our work as a local planning authority with respect to planning policy. This work includes:
- Preparing planning policy documents
- Processing representations concerning planning policy documents
- Working with neighbourhoods on their plans
- Working with neighbouring authorities on strategic policies
- Entering legal agreements, serving notices and promoting the best use of land
If you have questions about data or privacy, please contact our Data Protection Officer at FOI@harborough.gov.uk
How we get your information
We receive comments, representations and questions via email, letter, and through our online portal provided by JDi Solutions Ltd.
What we do with your information
During the plan making process we are obliged, by law, to consult on planning policy documents at several stages. In order to submit a valid representation concerning these documents, representors and agents must provide us with some personal data (eg name, address, contact details). In a small number of circumstances individuals will provide us with “special category data” in support of their representation.
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.
We are obliged under the regulations to make some information provided to us available on planning registers. This is a permanent record of our planning decisions that form part of the planning register.
Harborough District Council's Statement of Community Involvement dated February 2020 states that the contact database will be renewed ahead of each Local new Plan cycle.
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 details of representations available online and at the council offices as part of the public register. We will sometimes need to share the information we have with other parts of the council.
We may also contact representors and agents to notify them of subsequent consultations that are part of the plan making process.
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 respondent and agent - e.g. telephone numbers, email addresses
- Signatures
- Special Category Data - e.g. supporting statements that include information about 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 submitting the representation. The best way to contact us about this issue is by emailing the team at planningpolicy@harborough.gov.uk.
Retention (‘how long we keep your information for’)
We process many different types of information according to our retention policy. Representations concerning planning policy documents are kept until the Local Plan to which it relates is superseded.
Complaints and problems
Processing representations concerning planning policy documents 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 by emailing the team at planningpolicy@harborough.gov.uk.
If you need to make a complaint specifically about the way we have processed your data you should contact our complaints team who will deal with your issue, by emailing complaints@harborough.gov.uk. If we fail to respond properly you can direct your concerns to the Information Commissioners Office.