Building control privacy notice

Coventry City Council complies with the Data Protection Act and the UK GDPR and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a Data Controller.

This Privacy Notice explains how personal information collected as part of the building regulations process and who it will be shared with.

Why we collect information about you

The Council, as the local building control authority, has a duty to consider applications for development in the public interest. We process information provided as part of an application including application forms, plans, documents and other supporting information.

We use this information to:

• Make decisions and provide advice on all applications sent to the building control department
• Work with other Councils on strategic policies
• Complete and send reports to Government departments.
• Investigate breaches of building regulations

When you make a complaint about a possible breach of building regulations we will ask for your information as well as information about the alleged breach. We will not publish or disclose any personal details about you or the breach although the information will be available to all building control staff.

We do not use your information for automated decision making.

What personal information we collect

• Contact details - including your name, address and/or business name and address, email address and phone numbers
• Medical information
• Financial information

Who we share your information with

Information will be redacted from public viewing, but we will hold this information on our building control system and it will be available to all building control staff.

The following information that is kept on our files will be kept confidential and will not be made available for public inspection:

• legal opinion received by the council
• personal financial information
• documents that have restricted or no public access, for example, wildlife/habitat reports
• complaints and matters relating to breaches of building control until we take enforcement action.

We will sometimes need to share the information we have with other Council departments, for example, our housing team. 

How long we keep your information for

We will only keep your information for as long as we need to, so we can give you the service you need, unless we must keep it for legal reasons. The length of time it is kept for can be different depending on the service you have asked for.

Your rights

You have the right to:

1. Ask us for the information we hold about you
2. Ask us to change information we hold about you if it is wrong
3. Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office

To exercise any of these rights please contact [email protected]

Complaints

You have the right to submit a complaint if you are unhappy with the way your request is handled or if you disagree with a decision made by the council regarding your data. In these circumstances, you can contact the Data Protection Team (DPO) and request a review of the decision at [email protected]

If you are not satisfied with any outcome from the DPO you may wish to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF