We keep the Planning and Development Services Privacy Notice under review. It was last reviewed and updated in April 2023.
Planning and Development Services encompasses the following service areas and functions.
- Development Management including Planning Enforcement - this includes the assessment and determination of planning and planning related applications and enquiries, including requests for advice. It also includes the recording and investigating of Enforcement Complaints and the monitoring of development
- Building Control - this includes the assessment and determination of applications for Building Regulation approval and associated enquiries. It also includes the recording and investigating of things such as dangerous structures.
- Local Land Charges - this includes dealing with requests for Local Land Charges Searches; these are the legal searches undertaken by solicitors or licensed conveyancer acting on behalf of a person buying or selling land or property
- Street Naming and Numbering - this is the process of allocating street names and property numbers to new properties or property conversions along with requests to change the name of an existing property
- Design and Conservation - this includes dealing with requests for advice and guidance on matters relating to Heritage conservation (listed buildings, conservation areas, and archelogy). Determining applications for works to protected trees (trees covered by Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas) and matters relating to ecology and protected species
When we use your information, City of York Council (CYC) complies with data protection legislation and is the registered ‘Controller’. Our data protection notification is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - reference Z5809563.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice contact the council’s Data Protection Officer.
View the privacy and transparency information for all of the City of York Council (CYC).
Personal data
Sometimes we will not need any personal information form you when answering your enquiry. If we do need to process your information, the amount and type will depend on why and how you are contacting or interacting with us and the service or information you are requesting.
This may simply mean providing your name, address, email address or telephone number but for some services, we will need more details and sometimes sensitive personal information or special categories of personal data. For example we may need information about your health or commercial information about your business or financial information.
We will only ask you for the information that is necessary to provide you with the service you are contacting us about.
If you do not provide the personal information we require we may not be able to provide you with the information or service you need.
See further details about how we define personal data and non-personal data.
Collecting personal data
Planning and Development Services will collect your information when you contact us, access our services, or make a formal application to any of our services and this privacy notice explains how we use it. This information will either have been provided by the individual making the application or accessing our services or via a third party acting on their behalf, for example:
- Planning Agents
- architects
- builders
- tree surgeons
- Building Control Approved Inspectors
- conveyancing solicitors
We may also receive your information from the following digital services or platforms:
- City of York Council online Planning Register: The City of York Council online Planning Register is the online planning application register where people can view a record of planning applications, the platform also allows users to make comments on planning applications that are currently being considered by the council
- Planning Portal: The Planning Portal provide a national transaction service for people making planning related applications to all Local Planning Authorities in England and Wales
- National Land Information Service (NLIS): NLIS is the Government approved and regulated land and property searches portal and is a national platform which allows users to make electronic Land Charges searches to all local authorities in England and Wales
Using personal data
The information you provide will be used by us to:
- provide you with the information or service you have requested
- deal with and determine an application for the service you have requested
- undertake a statutory function such as determining applications for planning permission and planning related approvals, matters pertaining to Building Regulation approval and providing Local Land Charges searches
- monitor development
- update our systems to ensure our records remain accurate and up to date with any information or new information you provide
- record details of your interaction with us on the appropriate council system
- provide relevant updates on planning applications to interested parties
- provide reports, statistics and returns to central government where required; these will be anonymised and will not identify any individual
Our legal basis for using personal data
In order to process your personal information we rely on our legal obligation to provide planning and development services and process special category data in line with substantial public interest. Therefore we rely on Article 6 (1) (c) and Article 9 (2) (g) of data protection legislation.
We may not be able to do what you have asked us to do if you do not provide us with your personal data and use it as described in this privacy notice.
Sharing personal data
We will routinely share your data inside and outside of the council as part of the services and regulatory functions provided by Planning and Development Services.
These may include but are not exclusively limited to:
- our Elected Members (Councillors)
- our staff
- other service areas within the City of York Council
- planning application applicants, or Planning Agents acting on behalf of a planning applicant
- interested parties involved in a planning application, including statutory and technical consultees involved in the planning process, supporters and objectors to planning applications
- specialists who are providing a service to us in support of dealing with a planning, planning-related or building regulation application
- contracted suppliers who provide us with ICT systems which support us in undertaking our legal and regulatory functions
- The Planning Inspectorate - in cases where planning decisions are subject to an appeal
- regulatory bodies involved in the Building Regulations process, such as Yorkshire Water or North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
- third parties, such as the Royal Mail for the purposes of street naming and numbering
We may also use information to create reports and statistics that are anonymous and cannot be linked back to you or individuals such as:
- statistical analysis
- statutory returns
- audit framework
Development Management - Planning and Planning related applications and Planning Enforcement
Applicants and Agents: We will publish on our website, via our online register of planning applications, a copy of the completed application forms and relevant supporting documents and drawings. This information will include your name and address and the address for the application site; and where an agent is acting for you the name, address and contact details of your agent.
Any special category information that is provided as part of an application such as medical information or history will not be published on our online register. It will however be held on the associated case file and be available for staff within Planning and Development Services to view in association with dealing with your request.
We are obliged to maintain a public register of Planning Applications. Any information that is publicly available on our website could be used by individuals or organisations for their own purposes. The council is not responsible for how those individuals or organisations use data that is in the public arena.
Interested parties - those making representations, comments, writing in support of or objection to a planning application: We will publish responses to consultations and comments made in respect of a planning or planning related application online, via our online register of planning applications, under the application to which the comments relate.
In order for any comments to be registered, published online and to allow us to send you further correspondence relating to a particular application you must include:
- your name
- your contact address or contact email address
- the reference number of the application
- your comments and/or objections. These should be limited to planning matters only; comments which are considered to be defamatory, frivolous or offensive will not be published and you will be provided an opportunity to revise them
When we publish comments the content of the comment will be published along with the name and address of the party making the comments.
The following information will be removed from any comments we receive from interested third parties and will not be published online or shared:
- telephone number
- email address
- signatures
Once the application to which the comments relate has been determined, the comments will not be visible publicly online via the online planning register.
In the event of an application proceeding to an appeal any comments made to the original application may become visible again via the public online planning register whilst the appeal is considered by the Planning Inspectorate. We will also forward copies of all comments made to the Planning Inspectorate as part of the appeals process.
Planning Enforcement Complaints
When a Planning Enforcement complaint is made to us, we will require the following information in addition to details of the alleged breach or complaint:
- your Name
- contact address or email address
This information will be used to keep you updated on the progress of the investigation into the complaint made. We will not disclose any of these details with the person(s) to which the enforcement complaint relates nor will they be published on a public facing platform.
Building Control
It is sometimes necessary for us to share information relating to applications for Building Regulation Approval with other statutory bodies who provide a function within the Building Regulation process such as Yorkshire Water or North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.
Sharing data under Data Protection legislation
We may be required or permitted, under data protection legislation, to disclose your personal data without your explicit consent, for example if we have a legal obligation to do so, such as for:
- law enforcement
- fraud investigations
- regulation and licensing
- criminal prosecutions
- court proceedings
Retaining personal data
All records related to planning and development services will be kept permanently. Any consultation comments received to a planning application will not be available for view via the online planning application register once an application has been determined. These will however be retained on the case file and be visible internally to staff within Planning and Development services.
We may be obliged to disclose information in or relating to the records we hold, which is not already publicly available, following a request for information under Freedom of Information, Environment Information Regulation and/or Subject Access Requests. In such cases information which may identify a private individual will be redacted.
We may pass any relevant information to the City Archives where it is required or appropriate to do so.
Further processing of personal data
If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Notice, then we'll provide you with a new notice.
The new notice will:
- explain this new use before we start the processing
- set out the relevant purposes and processing conditions
Where and whenever necessary, we'll seek your consent to the new processing, if we start to use your personal data for a purpose not mentioned in this Privacy Notice.
Your rights relating to personal data
When we collect your personal data we'll tell you how we are going to use it. Where we process your personal data, you have a number of rights under data protection law.
See further details of your rights relating to personal data.