Development Management (Building Control) Privacy Notice

As the Local Building Control Authority, Lancaster City Council collects, processes and stores personal information about you in order to deal with building control related matters such as determination of applications made under the Building Regulations and the Building Act 1984 (as amended) (and other associated building control legislation).

We are committed to protecting your privacy, and this notice is made in light of the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and Data Protection Act 2018 in order to advise you how we use your personal information.

When do we collect personal information?

We collect information from you when you submit a building control related application and supporting documentation, or contact us about an existing application. This includes contact by email, letter or telephone.

What personal information do we collect?

The types of personal information we collect may include:

• Basic personal information including name, address and contact details;
• Other relevant information such as ownership of land or buildings;
• Any other information you provide to us during the application or investigation process.

How do we use your personal information?

Building control collects, processes and holds your personal information in relation to Building Regulations applications and matters of public safety. This is to determine that buildings meet the minimum requirements of the Building Regulations and that structures are safe, thus ensuring the health and safety of building occupants and the general public. This is done by undertaking the following:

• A plan check of deposited information
• Site inspections during construction
• Supplementary services work in relation to building energy rating assessments
• Assessment of dangerous buildings and structures
• The processing of demolition notices.

We also use information to improve our services so that they are more appropriate to people’s requirements. We recognise that your personal information is important to you, and we take our responsibilities for ensuring that we collect and manage it proportionately, correctly and safely very seriously.

We have a retention schedule and related processes in place to ensure that data we no longer need is deleted from our systems. Some information about building control must be retained indefinitely (this is required by law).

Do we share your information with anyone else?

Information to be made publicly available

In order to comply with our statutory obligations, we must make certain details about building control records available in the form of a public register. Regulations also permit and actively encourage this information to be made available online. This includes details of the application and works carried out.

Sharing information with other organisations

We sometimes pass your information to third party suppliers providing services such as data hosting, scanning and printing. These suppliers only use your data on our instructions. They won’t use it for any other reason, will look after it in the same way we would, and will destroy any personal data we share with them as soon as it is no longer required.

We will not share your information with any other organisations unless required to do so by law.

Sharing information within Lancaster City Council

During the course of our processes, where we deem it appropriate to seek information pertaining to the application, we may share personal information with other services within the Council.

Your rights and how to find out more

You have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you, and the right to object to our use of your information in certain circumstances.

For further information about your rights, how the Council uses your information, and how to get in touch if you have a query or complaint, please see the Council’s main privacy notice.

We reserve the right to amend this privacy notice at any time. However, we take your privacy very seriously and will never change our policies or practices to make them less protective of your personal information. 

 

Last updated: 12 April 2024