Local Plan Review

Bromsgrove District Council takes your privacy seriously.

We will use your information to undertake community engagement through surveys and consultations. This notice sets out what we will do with your personal information and who we may share it with in respect of the above. 

What information about you do we collect? 

Depending on the consultation being undertaken, we may collect the following information provided by you: 

• Name
• Organisation (if applicable)
• Postal address
• Postcode
• Email address
• Age range
• Gender
• Connection to local area (e.g. resident, worker in the area, business in the area etc.)

This information may be collected through online surveys/consultation platforms, email, written submissions, or other engagement activities.

How do we collect information about you? 

Relevant personal data will be collected: 

• Direct from you as the data subject when you complete a survey or form we have sent to you or submission of a written representation to us. 

How will your personal data be used? 

Your personal data will be used to:

• Record and manage consultation responses
• Contact you about your representation where necessary
• Notify you of future Local Plan consultations (where requested)
• Prepare summaries, reports, and evidence to support plan-making to produce

The Council will take reasonable steps to protect personal information. Where individuals are responding in a private capacity, or where information is not necessary for transparency, the following will normally be redacted prior to publication:

• Personal email addresses (e.g. private Gmail or similar accounts)
• Personal postal addresses
• Personal telephone numbers
• Handwritten signatures
• Any other personal data not relevant to the consultation

Why do we collect your personal information?

We are collecting this information for the purpose of carrying out a representation period on the Local Plan which may become part of the Council’s statutory development plan.

We may need to share the information that you give to us with the Local Plan Examination Programme Officer and the Planning Inspectorate (Secretary of State) as part of the legal obligation and plan making process, but the information will not be used in any profiling/automated decision making. The Planning Inspectorate has published a Privacy notice here Customer Privacy Notice - GOV.UK

Representations may be available to view on the Council’s website, although personal address and contact details will not be included. However, as copies of representations must be made available for public inspection, they cannot be treated as confidential and will be available for inspection in full.

The content of your comments may reveal personal information about yourself or others. It is your responsibility to ensure that your submitted comments do not reveal personal information about others.

Your contact details will be held on the Local Plan Consultation database for this purpose, and relevant notifications will be sent to you at appropriate stages. If you have requested to be notified at certain plan-making stages, requested to be included on our Local Plan Consultation database or submitted a representation to the Council and no longer wish to be notified, please contact the Strategic Planning team by email at bromsgroveplan@bromsgroveandredditch.gov.uk to withdraw consent and for the removal of your personal data.

By submitting a representation (comment), you confirm that you agree to how we process your data and accept responsibility for your comments.

The Legal basis for processing your data 

• Article 6(1)(a) – Consent (for example, where you request to be kept informed of future consultations)
• Article 6(1)(c) – Compliance with a legal obligation
• Article 6(1)(e) – Performance of a task carried out in the public interest

 These duties arise primarily from:

• Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
• Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations (as updated, including 2026 regulations)

 Who will your personal data be shared with? 

Your data will be managed by the Strategic Planning Team who need to analyse consultation responses. All representations will be made publicly available. Your information may be shared where necessary with:

• The Planning Inspectorate and Programme Officer (during Gateway observations and advice, as necessary, and examination)
• Other Council services involved in plan-making
• Statutory consultees where required by law

Your data will not be used for marketing purposes or sold to third parties.

Transferring of data outside of the UK

Your data will not be transferred outside of the UK. It will be securely stored electronically within the UK only, unless it is necessary for safeguarding or for the prevention and detection of crime. 

Length of time we keep your information  

We will retain your personal data only for as long as necessary for plan-making and associated statutory processes. However, you can request the removal of your personal data by requesting to be taken off the consultation database or removal of your representation from consideration during the plan-making process. Should you do so, your personal data and representation (where applicable) will be deleted as soon as is reasonably practicable. In some cases, representations form part of the permanent public record of the Local Plan.

Individual rights

You have rights under the General Data Protection Regulations. These can be found on the main privacy notice here Privacy Notice Information and your rights