Planning services privacy notice

Submission of planning and related applications, pre-application enquiries, preparation, monitoring and review of planning policy documents Section 106 and enforcement.

Who is the data controller for the information I provide?

Liverpool City Council is the data controller for the data you provide. Planning services takes your privacy very seriously and will keep your personal data secure at all times.

Why are we collecting your data?

Planning legislation requires us to collect information from you when you submit a planning related application and supporting documentation or make a representation or comment in relation to a planning application or the preparation, monitoring or review of planning policy.

What is the legal basis for collecting and processing this data?

Planning legislation - Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Town and Country Planning Development Management Procedure, England (Order 2015) - requires us to collect information from you when you submit a planning related application and supporting documentation or make a representation or comment in relation to a planning application or the preparation, monitoring or review of planning policy.

This applies when you contact us about the preparation, monitoring or review of planning policy, or an existing application or related information or make an enforcement complaint. This includes contact by email, letter or telephone either direct or via the contact centre.

We may also receive information about you from third parties, including planning agents and interested parties who comment on a planning application or the preparation, monitoring or review of planning policy, or planning and related applications. We may also undertake proactive enforcement enquiries and gather information relating to liabilities under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (S106 liabilities).

What information do we collect?

The types of personal information we collect may include:

  • Basic personal information including name, address and contact details.
  • Information relating to expressed opinions or intentions in respect of a planning and related applications or matters.
  • Any other information you provide to us during the application process enforcement investigation.

What do we use your data for?

We will use your personal data as part of the Council's statutory duties in relation to the processing of all types of planning and related applications or to the preparation, monitoring or review of planning policy. This also includes relevant S106 charges (a legal agreement entered into under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 between an applicant and the City Council to mitigate the impacts of a development proposal) to enable the Council to determine whether planning permission or similar consents should be granted and to process any S106 liabilities, which may apply.

Data provided as part of the planning and related application process will be used as part of the council's work with regard to the monitoring, implementation and enforcement of planning permissions and investigations into breaches of planning control or in relation to the preparation, monitoring or review of planning policy. We use the information we collect about you to fulfil our legal obligations around the planning process.

Do I have to provide this information, and what will happen if I don’t?

Your planning application cannot be processed.  Formal representations made on planning applications or policy documents cannot be considered.

Publication of information

Planning applications and enforcement matters

In order to comply with our statutory obligations under the Town and Country Planning Acts we must make certain details about planning and related applications available in the form of a public register. Regulations under these Acts permit this information to be made available online. This includes the name and address of the applicant and, where an agent is acting for the applicant, the name and address of that agent. It also includes the name and address of any person who makes a representation or comment on a planning application. 

We will publish a copy of your completed application form and relevant supporting documents and drawings on our website. We may publish comments and objections on our website, and this will include your name and your address.

If the council’s decision on the application is appealed, the Government’s Planning Inspectorate, who considers the appeal, will ask for copies of all application correspondence and they may also publish comments online.

Planning policy preparation, monitoring and review

When publishing the formal representation made on planning policy documents we will only make public the name of the respondent.  We must however provide the official person appointed and where appropriate any person appointed to assist that official, to conduct any public examination of a submitted development plan document or neighbourhood plan with relevant contact details in order to ensure that you have an opportunity to fully participate in the independent examination process.

General advice

In order to ensure that unnecessary personal data is not published online, please consider the following:

  • We strongly recommend that you indicate any documents, in whole or in part, containing personal information that you do not want to be seen by the public. However we have a legal duty under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Town and Country Planning Development Management Procedure England Order 2015 to make available certain details - your name, postal address and comment - so we cannot guarantee that such requests will be approved.
  • Please do not include any information in your application, comments or supporting documents, which is not required for the planning process. In particular please refrain from sending us sensitive information such as health or medical details where these are not required.
  • Please also refrain from including personal information about other people in your correspondence with us, unless specifically requested.
  • When sending us comments or objections by email, we recommend that you include your comments in an attachment, so we can avoid publishing personal details such as your email address.

We reserve the right not to publish any documents containing perceived insulting, offensive, abusive or obscene comments.

Retention of information

The law requires us to maintain the information on the register of planning applications indefinitely, and as such information relating to applications will be available on our website permanently. Comments and objections on applications form part of the statutory register and we will retain copies of these alongside the planning application. S106 information may be retained permanently for enforcement, audit and monitoring purposes. Enforcement complaints are retained permanently as the records are necessary to inform the planning process.

Pre-application enquiries will be held indefinitely as they form part of the planning history for the site and the data will be used for monitoring and enforcement purposes, however these will not be published online.

Personal data will be held securely by the council. We have a Data Protection Policy in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal information, and also utilise appropriate technical safeguards to keep your information secure and confidential where appropriate.

We will retain the original representations and comments made in respect of the preparation, monitoring or review of planning policy while they remain relevant to the preparation of the development plan or other policy document in question. In the case of formal statutory documents such as the Local Plan, this will be until at least the end of any legal challenge period following the City Council’s formal decision to adopt that document.  

Who will your information be shared with?

The information you have provided may be shared with other Liverpool City Council departments and other external third parties, when undertaking statutory and non-statutory consultation, for example, building control and highways services and Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service (MEAS) . We may also share data with the Police and other third parties to identify and deter criminal activity in accordance with the law.

If an appeal is made against our decision, the information you have provided will be shared with The Planning Inspectorate for the purposes of determining planning and related application appeals and investigating enforcement matters and appeals. This is to enable the Inspector to take account of your comment, when deciding the appeal.

Your name, address and comment will be shared publicly via Planning Online as the Town and Country Planning Acts require us to do so. You should be aware that it may be possible for your address to be browsed through internet browsers and search engines.

In relation to the preparation, monitoring or review of planning policy documents we will share your information with any consultants undertaking this work on our behalf, the Panning Inspectorate and the official person appointed and where appropriate any person appointed to assist that official, to conduct any public examination of a submitted development plan document or neighbourhood plan with relevant contact details in order to ensure that you have an opportunity to fully participate in the independent examination process.

Will my data be transferred abroad and if so why?

No.

Automated decision-making and profiling

We do not engage in automated decision-making using your personal data.

What rights do I have when it comes to my data?

You have a number of rights that are set out on the How to access your data page of this section.

Where can I get advice?

View our Help and advice page for more information.