Development Management Privacy Notice

We (Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils) collect and process your personal information.

We do this only to assess planning applications, and to fulfil our legal obligations.

We follow the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation.

Before you contact us, please note the following:

We publish certain information about planning applications. This will be online, and also in an accessible register.

The information may include personal details of applicants, and other parties.

When do we collect personal information?

We collect personal information when you submit a planning application. We also collect it when you contact us about an existing application.

We may also receive information about you from third parties. This includes planning agents and interested parties who comment on your application.

What personal information do we collect?

The types of information we collect may include:

• Basic personal information including name, address and contact details
• Your occupation
• Information about your health
• Information about your opinions or intentions in respect of a planning application
• Any other information you provide to us during the application process

Do we share your information with anyone else?

We make certain details about planning applications available in a public register.

This is a legal obligation.

Regulations also encourage us to publish this information online.

Details published will include the name and address of the applicant. Where an agent is acting for the applicant, we will publish the name and address of the agent.

We will also publish a copy of your completed application form. This includes relevant supporting documents and drawings, comments and objections.

We will remove telephone numbers, email addresses, signatures and information about your health. This does not apply if you are acting as a professional such as an agent.

We will also remove insulting, offensive, abusive or obscene comments.

View the website containing our published planning information

Please note that the law requires this information to be available forever.

To help us, please note the following:

• Tell us about personal information that you do not want made public. We cannot guarantee we can do this, because we have a legal duty to make certain details available
• Leave out information which is not required for the planning process. This includes personal information about other people
• Do not include your signature as it is not required. Knowing your signature may help others to commit identity theft

Sharing information with other organisations

If an appeal is lodged against a decision we make, the Government’s Planning Inspectorate will ask for copies of all application correspondence.

We will not disclose any personal information to any other third parties unless required to do so by law.

Find out more about how we use your information

We will only contact you if we need further information about your application.

Your rights and how to find out more

Under the Data Protection Act, you can ask us for access to information that we hold about you.

This is called a "Data subject access request".

You will need to make such a request in writing.

Download and complete a Data Subject Access Request form

You will need to provide proof of identity, such as a passport or driving licence.

We must respond to you within one month. If the request is complex, we may ask for an extension of this period.

If the information is wrong, you must write to us and tell us what information is wrong. If we do not agree that the information is wrong, you may ask us to record your disagreement.

If you wish to complain, please view our complaints page

You might have complained but still feel unhappy. In this case, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner

How can I contact you?

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Email us: DataProtection@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk

Or write to: