Planning application data is used to assess and determine applications made under the Planning Acts. Where publicity is required to be carried out by the Planning Acts, any data prescribed to be included in notices/public registers would be used in any publicity.
Data held (usually the applicant’s name and address) may be referred to within documents that are produced during the decision-making process (including decision notices, officer reports, records of application withdrawal).
Names/addresses of applicants are published in the ‘Planning permissions data’ releases each year.
Councils may publish representations received from members of the public. The onus is on the council to redact personal / sensitive information.
Yes and they would be able to access the privacy statement for Planning, Transport and Development prior to making an application.
Timescales for determining most applications made under the Planning Acts are set by government – generally a period of 8-13 weeks. This is when an application is under active consideration and publicity may take place, for example, weekly lists of applications received or decided may be published during that period.
Where publicity about an application is specifically required by legislation, data about the application will be published in local press (newspaper) advertisements and in letters to adjoining or nearby occupiers.
Where prescribed in legislation, data about an application is stored and published to a statutory register of planning applications. This is for an indefinite period.
Representations from members of the public are stored for an indefinite period.
The data is used as required (for example, to make contact with the applicant) to perform these public tasks, and then published to maintain public records
Applicants’ contact details may be used by council officers to communicate any further information required to complete their assessment, statutory notices and decisions, and to arrange a site visit, if required.
Data about the applicant or occupier’s health condition(s) may be provided to support a fee-exemption claim would be used by officers to determine if such an exemption is considered to apply. This would not be published or shared with the public.
Representations from members of the public are kept on record for an indefinite period.
Data about applications is required for service delivery, for assessing and determining applications under the Planning Acts.
Under the reformed system, data collected from applicants is intended to be specific to their application, rather than broad-brush application forms, as used in the existing process. This should avoid the need for follow up contact with applicants so that applications can be processed more efficiently.