Privacy Notice for Building Control

Why we are collecting your data

Chelmsford City Council is a data controller. This means we need to collect your personal data so we can process your Building Regulation or demolition application, deal with a potentially dangerous structure or respond to your enquiry, comment or complaint. We will only collect the minimum amount of personal data from you that we need to deliver the services we provide. 

Information collected

  • Name
  • Signature
  • Address
  • Phone Number
  • Email address
  • Financial information such as payment details
  • Information provided in your application
  • Medical information where relevant to an application

We collect this information in a variety of ways. It may be supplied to us directly (or via your agent on your behalf) or we receive it from a third-party electronic portal website that provides a transaction service.  

The basis for the processing

We do this to deal with Building Control related matters to ensure compliance with legal obligations under the Building Regulations, the Building Act 1984 and other associated legislation.

Who we share your information with

Depending on the nature of the work, we may need to share your personal information with these organisations to comply with statutory obligations: 

  • other council departments such as Planning, Revenue, Housing, Legal
  • other local authorities
  • local fire authority
  • utility companies
  • Essex County Council
  • police authority
  • the courts
  • consultants contracted by us
  • Ombudsman and regulatory authorities
  • other bodies we are required to notify of commencement and completion of projects

We will make copies of the Decision Notice and Completion Certificate for any Building Regulation application for your property viewable on our Public Access site.

We will never sell your data. However, we may share some of your personal information with third parties to:

  • help prevent fraud. We may share your information with credit reference agencies and other companies for use in credit decisions. Credit agencies may record these searches, but that will not affect your credit standing.
  • pursue people or companies who owe us money. We may share your information with debt collection agencies.
  • help business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors to deliver any contract we enter with them or you.
  • help us if we are need additional professional or legal advice on a matter relating to you.
  • to improve and optimise the performance of our websites and social media accounts. Analytics and search engine providers that we use can collect your data when you interact with us online. However, they will aggregate and anonymise the information, meaning we can’t identify any individual personally.
  • work out if a grant we have spent was successful in achieving its aims. This could be funding from a Government or a grant from a local, regional or national organisation such as Sport England and National/Heritage Lottery Fund. However, they will aggregate and anonymise the information, meaning we can’t identify any individual personally.  

Providing accurate information 

We need to hold accurate and up to date information about you so that we can deliver appropriate services. If any of your details change, you need to tell us as soon as possible so that we can update your records.

We will not: 

  • use your information for marketing or sales purposes without your prior explicit consent. 
  • send or store your data abroad unless it meets the requirements of the Data Protection regulations.
  • make decisions about you based on automated processing.  

How long will we hold your data for? 

We keep all records relating to Building Control matters for as long as necessary for the purpose it was provided, or to comply with the law. This varies from 15 years after a process has finished, to permanent storage where records of decisions are required to be kept indefinitely.

Your rights 

You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you.  Any access requests are free of charge.

If the information we hold about you is inaccurate, you have a right to have this corrected and you have the right to request completion of incomplete data.

You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data in certain circumstances (‘right to be forgotten’).

You have the right to ask us to stop or restrict the processing of your personal data, in certain circumstances.  Where possible, we will seek to comply with your request, but we may need to hold or process information to comply with a legal requirement.

You can make any of these requests by:

  • emailing ir@chelmsford.gov.uk 
  • Or sending a letter to:

Digital Services 
Chelmsford City Council
Civic Centre
Duke Street
Chelmsford
CM1 1JE

If you are dissatisfied with how we have used your personal information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at casework@ico.org.uk

Identity of Data Protection Officer 

Our designated Data Protection Officer is John Breen. 

You can contact him by emailing ir@chelmsford.gov.uk

Contact details 

Chelmsford City Council
Civic Centre
Duke Street
Chelmsford
CM1 1JE

Email: ir@chelmsford.gov.uk 

Telephone: 01245 606606

Is there something wrong with this page?

You can report issues with the website using our website feedback form, which will go directly to the Web Team. This team will be unable to deal with your enquiry if it is not related to the website.