Privacy notice

We are committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services.  

The consultation process requires that you supply personal information about yourself.  Once your comments have been submitted, your details will be checked and added to our secure consultee database and will only be accessed by authorised Council employees. 

The comments we receive cannot be treated as confidential, but only your name and the comments you submit will be displayed publicly (personal information such as your address, email address, telephone numbers, etc will not be displayed publically). 

The main reason for collecting these details is so that we can contact you and keep you informed of the next steps in the process and any other relevant planning policy consultations. 

Your information will not be shared with other organisations unless we have your consent or there is a legal basis for doing so.  For example, should you submit comments to the next stage of the Plan, ie the "Publication Draft", we are legally required to pass on your comments to the Planning Inspectorate and Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government when the Plan is submitted for examination. If you do not wish your details to be passed on to the Planning Inspectorate then the Council and the Planning Inspector will not be able to take your comments into account as anonymous comments are not permissible.

Personal information will not be retained longer than we need to and then we will ensure that records are either fully anonymised or are securely destroyed. 

Our consultee database will be reviewed periodically in order to maintain an up to date contact list. You may have your details removed at any time from this database by contacting Local.Plan@southtyneside.gov.uk.