Section 16 Compulsory Purchase Order Land Referencing privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and it was last updated on 5 December 2022.

Kent County Council respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

Who we are

Kent County Council collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (‘UK GDPR’) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information. Kent County Council’s Vehicle crossings team are responsible for dropped kerb new applications process. Our Data Protection Officer is Benjamin Watts.

This privacy notice belongs to the Highways and Transportation department who manage Capital infrastructure highway schemes, and who work with consultants and contractors to progress the scheme to delivery.

Compulsory purchase is a legal mechanism by which acquiring authorities, including Kent County Council, can acquire land to support the delivery of development, regeneration, and infrastructure projects.

As part of a Compulsory Purchase Order, we are required to identify all parties who hold an interest in or rights over land which may potentially be affected by a development. This process is called Land Referencing. We request Land Referencing information through a Request for Information form, pursuant to Section 16 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

The personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of undertaking the land referencing process we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • Your contact details e.g. name, company name, trading name, home address, registered company address, email address, telephone number

We also obtain personal information from other sources as follows:

  • Your contact details e.g. name and address from the HM Land Registry

How we use your personal information

We use your personal data to:

  • identify details of all freeholders, leaseholders, tenants, occupiers and parties with other land interest in the scheme
  • issue notices to all identified freeholders, leaseholders, tenants, occupiers and parties with other land interest in the scheme; pursuant to Section 16 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (section 16 notice).

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We rely on Article 6 (1) (c) ‘in order to comply with a legal obligation to which (Kent County Council) is subject i.e. to follow the process in making a Compulsory Purchase Order process under Sections 239, 240 and 250 of the Highways Act 1980 and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981, as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data.

The provision of your contact details is required from you to enable us to identify details of all freeholders, leaseholders, tenants, occupiers and parties with other land interest in the scheme and issue notices to all identified parties; pursuant to Section 16 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (section 16 notice).

As we have a statutory basis for collecting your personal data, if you do not provide your contact details; we may not be able to identify all freeholders, leaseholders, tenants, occupiers and parties with other land interest in the scheme and issue notices to these identified parties; pursuant to Section 16 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (section 16 notice).

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal information for:

  • 6 years from completion of the land referencing process in accordance with Kent County Council’s Retention Schedule

Who we share your personal information with

We routinely share your information with:

  • council teams within Kent County Council as part of the land acquisition process
  • commissioned providers of local authority services who conduct the land referencing and Compulsory Purchase Orders process on behalf of Kent County Council.

For a list of our commissioned services providers, please email majorprogrammeprivacy@kent.gov.uk. This data sharing enables us to progress the land acquisition process.

We have a data processing agreement in place with our commissioned providers who process your data on our behalf. We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law or in connection with legal proceedings.

We will share personal information with our legal and professional advisers in the event of a dispute, complaint or claim. We rely on Article 9(2)(f) where the processing of special category data is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity.

We do not transfer your data to countries or organisations outside the UK.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have a number of rights which you can access free of charge which allow you to:

  • know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it
  • ask to see what information we hold about you
  • ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you
  • object to direct marketing
  • make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

  • object to how we are using your information
  • ask us to delete information we hold about you
  • have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation
  • object to decisions being made that significantly affect you
  • stop us using your information in certain ways.

We will always seek to comply with your request. However, we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties. Please note: your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.

For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Who to contact

Please contact the Information Resilience and Transparency Team at data.protection@kent.gov.uk to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or how long we have kept it for.

You can contact our Data Protection Officer, Benjamin Watts, at dpo@kent.gov.uk.

The UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with Information Commissioner, who may be contacted via the Information Commissioner's website or call 03031 231113.

Read our corporate privacy statement.