Planning policy privacy notice

This privacy notice is designed to help you understand how the Council may process your personal data in relation to planning policy matters, notably the Local Plan.

This privacy notice supplements the key information in, and should be read alongside, the Council's corporate privacy notice.

Who are we?

The Council's Planning Policy Team is responsible for the development of the Local Plan and Supporting Documents. The Team collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal data about you in order to perform its service functions.

Whose personal data do we process?

We will process the personal data of:

planning agents
individuals who respond to consultations or submit comments or representations to us
landowners and/or site promoters
any other individual who has cause to contact us including during the process of developing, consulting on and/or examining development plan documents, and other planning policy or evidence documents

What type of personal data do we process?

We collect the following personal data as part of our day-to-day activities in relation to Planning Policy:

name
postal address
email address
telephone number
signature
any other personal data that an individual or organisation may provide to us within their comments or representations during the process of developing, consulting on and/or examining development plan documents, and other planning policy or evidence documents

Where do we get your personal data from?

Much of the information we process will be obtained directly from you.

We collect data about you via the following methods:

your enquiry
comments on Neighbourhood Plans
comments on Local Plans
comments on documents associated with the Local Plan (e.g. Supplementary Planning Documents and Technical Guidance Notes)
your response to our "Call for Sites"
other sources such as other Council Departments and third parties
by you subscribing to our consultation database
self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Register

We collect data by the following means:

online
via Email
over the telephone
by paper correspondence
in person (face-to-face)

How do we use your personal data?

We are collecting your personal data for the following purposes:

for the purpose of the production, review and monitoring of planning policy documents including Local Plans, Neighbourhood Plans and Supplementary Planning Documents
for the purposes of undertaking a referendum in relation to a Neighbourhood Plan
for the purposes of keeping and updating registers, such as Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Registers and Brownfield Land Registers
for the purpose of responding to your enquiry
for the purpose of the Council keeping local community and stakeholders, including residents, businesses, interest groups and landowners, informed of the preparation of planning documents
for the purpose of plan-making the Council will use contacts on the Local Plan consultation database to ensure you are kept aware of upcoming consultations

For analysis of responses on planning policy consultations we use a third-party online participation platform. If you submit a response to the Council via a different means, we will input your response separately to this platform.

Who do we share your personal data with?

We may share your data with the following third parties for the reasons detailed above:

other council departments (for example Estates, Housing, Legal, Environmental Health and Economic Development)
other councils such as New Forest National Park Authority, Hampshire County Council and Town/Parish Councils
government departments or agencies such as Environmental Agency or Historic England
the Planning Inspectorate (PINs)
the Local Plan Examination Programme Officer (an independent officer appointed to work under the PINs Planning Inspector's direction)
third party consultants appointed to carry out planning policy evidence base studies, reviews or projects on behalf of the Council

When undertaking planning policy evidence base studies/reports on behalf of the Council, the third-party consultant(s) may need to collect personal data specific to the requirements of the project as part of their research. When this task is required to undertake the study/research, the personal data collected by the consultant(s) is not shared with the Council and will be collected and stored by the consultant(s) in accordance with the data protection legislation.

What is the legal basis for using your personal data?

We rely on the following lawful basis to process your personal data:

Public Task: The processing is necessary for the Council to perform a task in the public interest or for its official functions with a basis in law.

The Planning Policy Team collects personal data to fulfil our statutory duty and help us deliver sustainable development. Processing this data is necessary for the performance of a task (statutory plan-making and associated policy work) carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Council.

The legislation and National Planning Policies that relate to our Planning Policy work includes, but is not limited to:

National Planning Policy Framework
Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended)
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
Planning Act 2008
Localism Act 2011
Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012
Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015
Self-build and Custom Housebuilding (Register) Regulations 2016

Research and statistics

Anonymised and pseudonymised data may be used for research and statistical purposes. Any data collected may be used for research and statistical purposes that are relevant and compatible with the purpose that the data was collected for.

Updates

This privacy notice and the corporate privacy notice are updated from time to time to take account of changes in our services, legal requirements and to make sure they are as transparent as possible, so please check back here for the current version. You can see when this privacy notice was last updated here: February 2025