Privacy notice

All planning applications received by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council are processed in accordance with the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. 

What will your information be used for?

To comply with its statutory obligations, the Council must make public certain details relating to planning applications in the form of a Public Register. Regulations allow this information to be made available on the Internet. The Council is under a statutory obligation to publish, on its website, a list of planning applications. 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.

What information do we collect about you?

When determining a planning or related application, the council receives personal information from; the application form, documents of support or objection, the applicant and interested parties. This information will be securely held and the Planning service will take extreme care when publishing personal data or sensitive personal data on the website.  The following data will be redacted [blacked out so that it cannot be seen (in all instances, using electronic methods] or the document withheld.  It will not be published on the website:

• signatures (hand written and electronic)
• personal telephone numbers including mobile phone numbers (this does not include commercial or business phone numbers).
• personal email addresses (this does not include commercial or business email address).
• registration plates on motor vehicles
• identification of children’s/youth’s information (photographs)
• children’s names and ages
• identification of vulnerable person(s) including children / youths. For example disability registration / certificates / medical documents.
• any medical or other data about someone’s health or wellbeing
• personal financial information (bank statements etc.)

What about commenting on a planning application?

The Council may publish comments received from third parties (such as neighbours, other members of the public, community organisations) about planning applications on its website. To protect personal data from unnecessary disclosure, the Council will remove names, phone numbers, email address and signatures from the information that may be viewed via the website. Please note that your address will be published on our website.

The Council will not publish defamatory or obscene comments.

Data protection

The personal data collected for your Planning application is for a specific, explicit and legitimate purpose and will not be used for any other purpose without your permission.

The online planning register is also covered by the council’s general privacy policy which covers the council’s website.

If an appeal against the application is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate they may also publish your comments on the internet. Their privacy notice explains how they process your information.