Public Rights of Way - Privacy Notice

Public Rights of Way, Green Infrastructure Team, Rural and Cultural Economy Service

As a Public Rights of Way team, we manage approximately 2000km of Public Rights of Way consisting of footpaths, bridleways, restricted byways and byways open to all traffic.  The team also work to improve wider countryside access through permissive paths and open access land, for example.

All Public Rights of Way are highways and are protected by highway law and other legislation. Services provided by the Public Rights of Way team include:

• Public Path Orders and Temporary Closures
• Definitive Map Modification Orders to alter the Definitive Map and Statement
• Land Searches
• Landowner declarations, deposits, and statements
• Enforcement
• Working with landowners and land managers to maintain the public rights of way network.

What personal information is being processed and what for

The Public Rights of Way team process personal information, such as your name and title, address, email address, telephone, or mobile numbers, voluntarily offered personal information such as physical or mental health details, the user group you represent (if applicable), and land you either own or manage. We may also collect information on how you use a particular right of way or area of land.

We are collecting your personal data for the following purposes:

• deliver services requested by you,
• investigate and process legal orders, notices, and court actions specifically in relation to administrating Definitive Map Modification Order applications, Public Path Order applications, s31 Deposits and Traffic Regulation Orders (temporary closures).
• holding statutory registers made available on the Council website, of Definitive Map Modification Order applications and s31 landowner deposits.
• consultations
• enable works to be carried out to maintain and manage the public rights of way network,
• recover costs due to enforcement duties, or similar,
• volunteering
• train and manage the employment of the Public Rights of Way team who deliver those services.

Why we are allowed to use your information

The Council is the Highway Authority, Surveying Authority, Traffic Authority and Access Authority for Cheshire East.  We have legal duties and powers to manage the Public Rights of Way across the borough under various pieces of legislation, including but not limited to:

• Highways Act 1980
• National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949
• Transport Act 1968
• Countryside Act 1968
• Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976
• Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
• Cycle Tracks Act 1984
• Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
• Road Traffic Act 1988
• Town and Country Planning Act 1990
• Rights of Way Act 1990
• New Roads and Street Works Act 1991
• Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
• Transport and Works Act 1992
• Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000
• Local Government Act 2000
• Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006
• Localism Act 2011
• Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013
• Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
• Deregulation Act 2015.

The UK  GDPR requires us to have a lawful basis to process personal data.  The activities of the Public Rights of Way team are covered by Article 6(1)(c) and 6(1)(e) of the UK  GDPR – legal obligation and public task to process your personal data.

Who we will share your information with

To be able to deliver services it may be necessary for the Public Rights of Way team to share your personal information with the following organisations / partners:

• Ward Members (Councillors)
• Contractors to undertake public rights of way improvements on third party land or similar,
• Consultants to investigate Definitive Map Modification Order applications or similar,
• Consultees for purposes of informal and statutory consultations associated with processing legal order applications.
• Members of the Highways & Transport Committee to determine a legal order application where details of the proposal, which may include your name and representation of a group, and your interest in a parcel of land (if applicable) in a report and be presented in a public forum and made available on the Council website,
• Planning Inspectorate when a legal order attracts objections which are not withdrawn and the details of the case including your name, contact details and correspondence is included in a casefile for determination which may include a public inquiry or hearing and when your information may be provided to other parties and be made available to the public.
• Environment Agency
• Health & Safety Executive
• Town & Parish Councils
• DEFRA
• MPs
• Internal colleagues from other Cheshire East departments including Cheshire East Highways
• Cheshire East’s wholly owned companies
• Cheshire Police or Cheshire Fire & Rescue Services

Further details as to the process of the particular service you have contacted us about are available on request

Where we get your information from

In most cases the information we process will have been provided directly by yourself through online web forms and web enquiries from the Council’s website; incoming correspondence such as letters, emails, (volunteer) forms, legal order applications and telephone calls.

We may also receive your personal information from third parties for example in letter from MPs, Councillors or Town/Parish Councils where you have asked an official person or organisation to act on your behalf.

In addition, information on landowners and occupiers is obtained from office records, other officers of the Council, HM Land Registry, and the Rural Payments Agency

How long we will keep your personal information

We will keep your information for different periods of time, depending on what we are using it for. We only keep your information for as long as we need to, after which we will securely delete the information.

In some instances, we have legal obligations to retain data in connection with our statutory obligations as a public authority.

Information shared with contractors / consultants will be securely destroyed by the contractor / consultant once the work task has been completed.  

Full details of the retention periods for different types of data are contained in the Council’s Information Asset Register

How your information is stored

The information is held with restricted access in electronic format on the Council’s secure IT servers and securely held in paper format in the office and archives of the Public Rights of Way team and / or Cheshire archives (in the case of s31 landowner deposits) 

What happens if you don’t provide us with your information

If you do not provide us with your information, then we may not be able to respond to your enquiry, deal with your application or address the issue you wish to raise.

Will your information be used to make automated decisions

No.

Will this information be transferred abroad

No.

Your rights

You have a number of rights regarding your personal data.  You can ask for a copy of the information we hold about you and ask us to correct anything that is wrong.  For detailed information about your rights please see the Cheshire East Council Privacy Notice.