Strategic Planning (including Neighbourhood Planning) privacy notice

What personal information is being processed and what for

The council will retain information and personal data that you provide in relation to consultation responses on planning policy documents you choose to take part in or requests to be added to our Local Plan consultation database in order to be notified about future consultations and any other relevant matters. If you are represented by an agent, we will usually send any notifications to them unless you have specifically asked to be contacted directly.

Consultation responses on planning policy documents can also include the submission of petitions to the council, electronically or in writing. The team will process and verify the content of the petition. The petition organiser will be registered as a consultee with details published on the nature of the petition and the numbers of signatures received.

References to planning policy documents can include:

Local Plan documents such as the Local Plan Strategy, Site Allocations and Development Policies Document, and Minerals and Waste Plan
Supplementary Planning Documents
Area Action Plans
Community Infrastructure Levy
Neighbourhood Plan documents
Development briefs and masterplans
Brownfield Land Register
Self-build or Custom Build Housing Registers
Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessments
Housing Monitoring Update
Evidence based documents that support the development of planning policy

The council also undertakes monitoring of policies in its Local Plan and the evidence that supports it. This includes reviewing information on housing, employment, retail, renewable energy and other related subjects with information held in appropriate databases. These databases retain information from planning applications and other information relevant to the subject.

This data may include:

Personally identifiable information whenever you sign up to our Local Plan consultation database, contact the Strategic Planning Team or respond to any of our consultations on the above listed document(s), including by the submission of a petition. This information may include your name, email address, home or work address, telephone or mobile number. There is also information about your computer hardware and software that is automatically collected. This information can include unique identifiers such as your IP address.

It may also include sites submitted to the council (received from landowners or their agents) who wish for their site to be considered for a future land use.

Other reasons why we have information about you include:

those who write to or e-mail the council requesting information on planning policy matters

We process personal information about the following people:

members of the public
staff
professional advisers and consultants
representatives of statutory or other organisations
elected members

The information comes from you. Our information asset register details the source of the specific information we hold.

Privacy Notices have also been prepared by the Strategic Planning Team on the following matters: -

Why we are allowed to use your information

It is a statutory function for Local Authorities to produce Local Plan documents and as such, under local government legislation, is a task in the public interest and in the exercise of official authority (General Data Protection Regulation Article 6 (1) (e)).

The way in which planning policy documents are produced is governed by a range of legislation. In a number of cases this includes how they are consulted upon and how the council is expected to collect and present consultation responses in a transparent way. This legislation includes but not exclusive to:

Town and Country Planning Act 1990
Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
Planning and Compensation Act 1991
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
Localism Act 2011
Housing and Planning Act 2016
Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017
The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012
The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012
The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017

Who we will share your information with

The council will share details in line with this privacy notice and when required to do so by law and / or statutory regulations in producing the development plan and planning policy documents. This may include:

Publishing your name, organisation, post town and comments on our public facing consultation portal (Objective Keystone Online).
Providing your name, organisation, address and comments to an independent planning inspector / examiner to consider the soundness (or basic conditions for neighbourhood plans) and legal compliance of the planning policy documents being produced.
Processes involved in supporting the public examination of Local Plan documents

If you create a petition (petition organiser), you will be required to provide personal information so that we can contact you about your petition. Details regarding the petition will be registered on our consultation portal and the information shared in line with the principles outlined above. If you sign a petition, you will be required to provide personal information to enable us to verify that the petition itself is genuine. The personal details of signatories of the petition will not be published.

Your data will not be used for marketing or automated decision purposes. Notifications may be sent to you to provide updates on local plan consultations and related documentation.

Where we get your information from

Information is received from responses (including the submission of petitions) to planning policy related documentation and from other plan making bodies. This will include consultation surveys and other forms of consultation placed publicly on the Cheshire East Council website using the Council’s Consultation Platform – Objective Keystone Online.

Stakeholders may request to be added to our Local Plan consultation database to receive updates on planning policy consultations.

How long we will keep your personal information

We keep personal information in line with its retention schedule, which is based on retention guidelines for local authorities. You can see details of our retention guidelines on our information asset register.

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

The council has a duty to make sure that all documents and therefore all comments received are made available for public inspection under statutory provisions including the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Local Government Act 1972. Your comments on planning policy documents and/or site(s) (or other information submitted to the council) cannot be registered or used for the purposes of the development of planning policy if you do not provide your personal information.

Anonymous responses are not accepted.

Will your information be used to make automated decisions

No.

Will this information be transferred abroad

Your rights

You have a number of rights regarding your personal data, including withdrawing your consent where we have asked for it. You can also 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 privacy notice.

Page last reviewed: 09 October 2023