Planning and personal data

This page explains our approach to personal data within Planning. The GDPR documents below are Data Protection Privacy Statements made by Planning. You can also view the Council’s privacy statements.

Application comments

Members of the public

Comments received from 1 April 2019:

When you comment your personal data - name, address, signature, personal phone number and personal email address will not be displayed online as these are automatically excluded. Please do not include any of your personal data within the text of the your comment itself as these will show online.

Your name and address is required by planning legislation and the Council in order to accept and register your comments and keep you informed. It is therefore not possible to submit comments anonymously.

For full details on commenting, what we can consider and our previous policies on personal data please go to www.bedford.gov.uk/planningcomments.

Statutory consultees and parishes

Please send in any correspondence as a PDF attachment and do not include signatures, personal email addresses or personal phone numbers or these will be published online. Business email addresses or phone numbers can be included.

Applications - applicant / agent

Personal data is signatures, personal email addresses or personal telephone numbers.

Application submission documents:

  • Personal data supplied on the application form is automatically removed. However, if you have included any personal data within other documents accompanying the planning application it will be published online. If you do not wish this to be shown you will need to provide a replacement document with the personal data removed.
  • Medical information supplied to apply for a disability exemption will not be published online if clearly marked.

Any future correspondence that you send us in connection with this application will also be published online. This would include any email addresses that the correspondence is copied to (business telephone numbers and email addresses are not classed as personal data). so you may wish to send blind copies (use BCC option in an email) or as a letter attachment that does not include any personal information.

If you are an applicant not using an agent

Any correspondence you have with the Planning Officer will be published online. If you do not want your personal data (email addresses or phone numbers or signatures) published online please send correspondence as a PDF attachment without that information. Only the PDF document will then be published online.

Additional information for planning enquiries / pre-application advice

All pre-application submissions made after 1 March 2022 will remain unavailable to view online.

Prior to 1 March 2022 all pre-application submissions remained unavailable to view online until a planning application (which relates to the same site and applicant) was submitted. At this point all information submitted was published online, including the officer response. However, any personal data contained within the application form will not be disclosed this included signatures, personal email addresses or personal telephone numbers.

Please note that pre-application enquiries can also be released to view as part of a Freedom of Information request. However, any personal data contained within the application form will not be disclosed. Please consider this when submitting a pre-application enquiry. Any information that you do not want revealed should not be submitted as we cannot guarantee it will remain confidential.

Enforcement – breach of planning report

If you report a breach of planning your details are confidential and will not go into the public realm.

Appeals – comments and supporting documentation

Comments from members of the public

Any comments on a planning application that is going to appeal to be determined by the Planning Inspectorate will be sent to the appellant and the inspector. They will receive a redacted copy of your comments, removing your name, address, personal telephone numbers, personal email addresses and signatures. The Planning Inspectorate receives any comments you make on the appeal directly and will then forward to us, we will remove personal data before publishing online. (Comments should not be sent directly to Bedford Borough Council about the appeal).

Appellants and agents supporting documentation

Please do not include personal data in any of your documentation to us as follows:

All electronic and / or paper documents submitted in conjunction with your appeal will be made available on Bedford Borough Council’s website within 24 hours of receipt.

We will check your appeal form for personal data (personal email address, personal phone numbers and signatures) and redact it but all other documents must be checked and redacted by you. Examples of documents to check are e-mail correspondence, certificates, affidavits etc. Please note that business email addresses / phone numbers do not need to be redacted as they are already in the public domain.

If there is any personal data within your paperwork that you do not want in the public domain you must inform us within the 24 hours of sending the information to us and we will withdraw it. You must also send a redacted copy within 7 working days which we can publish online.

Please email planningappeals@bedford.gov.uk

Planning policy

Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Register

We are required to keep a register in accordance with the Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Act.

GDPR Statement for the register.