Planning privacy notices

We collect information about you to process your comments on a planning related application and to go on to determine the application.

We can be contacted via the online contact form.

Lawful basis for collecting your personal data

Our lawful basis for processing your personal data under Article 6(1) of the UK GDPR is:

• public task: the processing is necessary for the performance a task in the public interest or for the exercise of official authority

The information we may collect

We may collect:

• your name, address and contact details
• any information you have included as part of your comment including any supporting documentation such as reports or photographs

Why we collect this information

Planning legislation requires that where there is a publicity requirement, we take into account any representations that are made when determining the application.

The legal basis for using this information is contained in planning related legislation including but not restricted to:

• The Planning Act 1990
• The Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• The Town and Country (Control of Advertisements) Regulations
• The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015
• The Town and Country (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (as amended)

Who we may share your information with

We may share your personal information with:

• Information will be recorded onto the joint Planning, Building Control and Land Charge database and document management system which may be accessed by staff working in these departments and staff in other departments who sometimes work on behalf of planning such as our legal department.
• Your comments form part of the application and the planning history. We publish comments on our website but no longer include names and addresses for comments received from 20 January 2025. If you submit a comment online, you can request that it not be published. We will continue to remove personal information such as telephone numbers, email addresses and signatures.  We strongly advise you not to include sensitive personal information, such as medical or financial details, in your comments. If you do, we will aim to remove this.
• If we receive a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) or Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) to disclose information relating to representations, we are obliged to do so unless the information is deemed exempt under the Act. We can only withhold information under FOI or EIR if the information falls under one of the exemptions (FOI) or exceptions (EIR) set out in legislation.
• If there is a subsequent appeal, copies of all letters of representation are forwarded to the Planning Inspectorate as part of the appeals process as contained in the Planning Act 1990 and the subsequent appeal regulations.

What we do with your information

Your information is used to help us to decide planning applications and a summary of your comments will be included in the case officer’s report. The report will indicate the nature of your comment and whether or not it can be taken into consideration as a material planning consideration. Your original letter will be retained as this forms the evidence of the comments that were received.

A copy of any representations made will be forwarded to the planning inspectorate should there be a planning appeal or to the courts should there be a Judicial Review.

How long we will keep your information

Your original comments as well as a summarised version as contained in the report will be retained as part of the planning file indefinitely as it forms part of the planning history. However, comments may be deleted from our internal document management system after 4 years for delegated decisions (applications determined by an officer) or six years for decisions made at committee. 

Your rights

You do have some legal rights in respect of the personal information we collect from you. Please see our corporate privacy notice for further details.

You can also contact our Data Protection Officer by email at dataprotection@elmbridge.gov.uk.

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), see Information Commissioner's Office: Make a complaint.