February 2021
Contents
Introduction and purpose of this document
1. What is the GDPR?
2. What personal information does the Planning Inspectorate collect and publish on the National Infrastructure Planning website?
3. Why does the Planning Inspectorate publish digital audio and video recordings of Examination events?
4. How does the GDPR apply to digital audio and video recordings?
5. Will I be asked to provide personal information at an Examination event?
6. What if I cannot avoid including personal information in my oral representation?
7. Can I record, tweet or film Examination events?
8. What if I do not wish to be filmed by another attendee?
9. What status do third party recordings have in the examination of application under the Planning Act 2008?
10. How long are digital audio and video recordings retained on the National Infrastructure Planning website?
Introduction and purpose of this document
This FAQ document has been published under s51 of the Planning Act 2008 (PA2008). It consists of advice to persons involved in the examination of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project applications about how the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) applies to oral representations and digital audio and video recordings of Examination events.
For these purposes, Examination events include:
- Preliminary Meetings;
- Issue Specific Hearings;
- Open Floor Hearings; and
- Compulsory Acquisition Hearings.
The Planning Inspectorate takes its data protection responsibilities for the information you provide us with very seriously. To find out more about how we use and manage your personal data, please go to our Privacy Notice.
This FAQ document does not repeat or replace the important principles set out in our Privacy Notice.
This document may from time to time be updated at the discretion of the Planning Inspectorate. You can sign up to be notified by email if / when these updates occur using the tool on this page of the National Infrastructure Planning website.
1. What is the GDPR?
The GDPR is the primary law regulating how organisations must protect all European Union (EU) citizens from privacy and data breaches in today’s data-driven world. The GDPR has been retained in UK law following the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU.
All public sector organisations, including the Planning Inspectorate, have a duty to understand and comply with the GDPR.
View the full text of the GDPR.
2. What personal information does the Planning Inspectorate collect and publish on the National Infrastructure Planning website?
Please see the Planning Inspectorate Privacy Notice.
3. Why does the Planning Inspectorate publish digital audio and video recordings of Examination events?
The fundamental values of the Planning Inspectorate are our commitment to openness, transparency and impartiality in the conduct of our business and we are committed to proactively publishing information that we hold.
Digital audio and video recordings of Examination events held under the Planning Act 2008 process are published so that any persons who are interested in the examination of an application can find out what happened, whether they were able to attend an event or not.
4. How does the GDPR apply to digital audio and video recordings?
Because digital audio and video recordings are retained and published on the National Infrastructure Planning website, they form a public record that can contain personal information and to which the GDPR applies.
If you participate in an Examination event, it is important that you understand that you will be recorded and that you consent to the retention and publication of the digital audio and video recording.
If you do not consent to having your oral representations recorded at an Examination event, the Examining Authority will offer you a written process as an alternative means to make your representations. The Examining Authority is an Inspector or Panel of Inspectors that are appointed to examine the application.
5. Will I be asked to provide personal information at an Examination event?
The Planning Inspectorate will only ever ask for information to be placed on the public record that is important and relevant to a planning decision (ie to the carrying on of its public task).
It will only be in the rarest of circumstances that an Examining Authority might ask you to provide personal information of the types that most of us would prefer to keep private or confidential in the form of an oral representation.
See FAQ 6 for further advice in this respect.
6. What if I cannot avoid including personal information in my oral representation?
To avoid the need to edit digital audio and video recordings, the Planning Inspectorate asks that you try your best not to add information to the public record that you wish to be kept private and confidential.
If you or the Examining Authority (ExA) genuinely consider that there is no alternative to the disclosure of such information, the ExA will agree a process to enable it to be made available without it forming part of the public record.
The normal way to do this will be for the ExA to ask you to make general oral submissions, but to include the private and confidential information that you need to support it in a written submission. Whilst the written submission will also need to be published, it can be redacted – a process in which certain personal content is removed – before publication takes place.
It follows that if you begin to make oral submissions at an Examination event that appear likely include information that would normally be kept private and confidential, the ExA will check with you to ensure that you consent to the retention and publication of that information.
If you do not, the ExA will ask for you not to make the relevant part of the oral representation and offer you a written process.
7. Can I record, tweet or film Examination events?
You do have the right to report, film and tweet the proceedings at an Examination event. However, you do need to do this responsibly and in a way that does not interrupt the proceedings in any way, and which takes into account the GDPR.
If you decide to record, tweet or film proceedings you are the data controller and you are responsible for satisfying yourself that you are operating lawfully within the data protection regime.
If you plan to film an Examination event, you will need to bear in mind that some individuals in attendance may not wish to be filmed.
See FAQ 8 for further advice in this respect.
8. What if I do not wish to be filmed by another attendee?
If an individual indicates to the Examining Authority (ExA) that they wish to film proceedings, at the beginning of the event the ExA will ask all attendees if there is anyone present who does not wish to be filmed.
If a person requests not to be filmed, the ExA will ask for the individual filming to respect that wish.
9. What status do third party recordings have in the examination of application under the Planning Act 2008?
The official record of the proceedings at Examination events are the audio and video recordings that are published on the National Infrastructure Planning website. Also, the written note of the Preliminary Meeting.
Recordings, tweets, blogs and similar communications arising out of Examination events will not be accepted as evidence in the examination of applications.
It should be noted that some applicants request to live-stream proceedings to private rooms/ other locations in order to assist their wider teams. These live-streams should not be recorded or retained by applicants. Applicants are expected to declare that streaming of this type is taking place at the beginning of each applicable event. Streaming of this type should avoid including any attendees other than members of the Applicant’s team and the Examining Authority.
10. How long are digital audio and video recordings retained on the National Infrastructure Planning website?
The digital audio and video recordings of any Compulsory Acquisition Hearings are removed from the National Infrastructure Planning website at the end of the Judicial Review (JR) period . This JR period is six weeks following the publication of the Secretary of State’s decision about whether to grant development consent.
The digital audio and video recordings of:
- the Preliminary Meeting;
- any Open Floor Hearings; and
- any Issue Specific Hearings;
are removed from the National Infrastructure Planning website at the end of the period of five years from the date of the Secretary of State’s decision.
The Planning Inspectorate will retain all depublished material internally for 20 years and review it in line with its document retention policy.
