Planning Services - Enforcement

The proper handling of personal information by Carmarthenshire County Council is very important to the delivery of our services and maintaining public confidence.

Personal data is any information that relates to a person who can be directly or indirectly identified from the information. The terms ‘information’ and ‘personal data’ are used throughout this privacy notice and have the same meaning.

To ensure that the Council treats personal information correctly, we seek to adhere in full to the requirements of Data Protection legislation.

This privacy notice has therefore been produced to explain as clearly as possible what we do with your personal data.

1. The purpose for which we use your personal data

The information we collect about you will be used for the purposes of investigating complaints of alleged breaches of planning legislation and to take enforcement action when required.

The legal basis for the processing of your information is to comply with our legal obligations under the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended).  

If you make a complaint to us and do not provide your name and contact details we will be unable to confirm receipt of your complaint or advise you on the outcome.

Where you are subject to an enforcement complaint and we issue a Planning Contravention Notice, it is a legal requirement to provide the information we ask for and failing to give it to us could lead to further action, including prosecution and a fine.

2. What type of information do we use?

When you make a complaint to us, we collect the following types of personal information:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Other contact details
  • Date of birth
  • Unique reference number
  • Images/photographs
  • Vehicle registration number
  • Information on land ownership and usage
  • Information about people living at, or using land/property
  • Financial information
  • Information about your health, where you provide this in the course of dealing with a case

If a case results in a criminal conviction for failing to comply with an enforcement notice, then we will also keep a record of that conviction. We do this because it is necessary in the exercise of our function under the planning legislation referred to above and because there is a substantial public interest in doing so.

3. Do we use information received from other sources?

To provide this service, we collect information directly from you but also receive information from the following sources:

  • HM Land Registry
  • The Council’s Council Tax service
  • DVLA
  • Companies House
  • Electoral Registration
  • Other Council Services/Departments
  • The Police
  • VOSA

The following types of personal data are to be obtained, depending on your circumstances:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Unique reference number
  • Telephone number
  • Email address
  • Bank/payment details
  • Your family composition
  • Your financial circumstances
  • Employment details
  • Your housing needs
  • Images/photographs
  • Vehicle registration number

4. Transferring your information abroad

We use Microsoft Office 365 to process our electronic documents under the terms of a strict agreement, which safeguards your information. This personal data is hosted on servers outside the UK, but only in EU countries which are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation.

We don’t transfer any other information about you outside of the UK.

5. Who has access to your information?

We share the minimum amount of personal data required and only where it is necessary to do so. We share information with the following:

  • The Council’s Council Tax Service when we need to find out the name of an occupier of a property
  • The Council’s Legal services, for advice on cases
  • Other Council Services/Departments where relevant
  • Planning Inspectorate

If you make a complaint about a planning enforcement matter, we keep your identity confidential unless you are required to give evidence in any proceedings.

There are other specific situations where we may be required to disclose information about you, such as:

  • Where the Council is required to provide the information by law
  • Where disclosing the information is required to prevent or detect a crime
  • Where disclosure is in the vital interests of the person concerned

6. How long we will keep your information

We will keep your information for 10 years after the conclusion of the planning enforcement case.

7. Your Data Protection rights

You have the right to:

  • Obtain access to the personal data that Carmarthenshire Council is processing about you
  • Have any inaccurate or incomplete information rectified (corrected)
  • Withdraw your consent to processing, where this is the only basis for the processing
  • Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the independent body in the UK which protects information rights

In some circumstances, you may have the right to:

  • Object to the processing of your personal information
  • The erasure of your personal data
  • Restrict the processing of your personal information
  • Data portability

8. Contact details

For more information regarding this privacy notice and your rights, please contact:

Data Protection Officer
Carmarthenshire County Council
County Hall
Carmarthen
SA31 1JP

Email: dataprotection@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

Contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office along with further guidance on Data Protection legislation can be found on the ICO website .

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