Building control service privacy notice

As part of any building regulation approval, Oxford City Council (‘the Council’, ‘we’) collects and processes personal data relating to your building regulation application.

We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations.

This statement is in compliance with current requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

What information do we collect?

We collect personal and business information about you so as to complete your building regulations application.

This includes:-

• Your name
• Your address
• Your phone number
• Your email address
• Contact details of your agent / principal contractor / principal designer

The personal data we process may also include the following sensitive personal data:

• information relating to disabilities

Why we collect this information and how we use it

The personal information provided to us directly by you is required for one of the following reasons: 

• to process your application or the service you need for building regulations compliance quickly and efficiently
• to enable us to be able to issue valid certificates or permits and communicate effectively with you about your application 
• if you are the owner of a building or structure that becomes dangerous, we may collect your personal information so that we can resolve the issue in line with dangerous building and structure legislation 

 We may also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources: 

• if we receive a neighbour complaint, or complaint from a member of the public or organisation in relation to a matter of concern for our service and they provide us with data which relates to you

If you do not provide your name and address we are unable to legally process your building regulation application. 

Relevant data you have supplied to us for your building regulation application will be made public on the PublicAccess Register where it is a legislative requirement (for the purpose of advertising your building regulations application).  The name of the agent and insurer will appear on the Register, however, your sensitive personal data (email address, phone number etc.), will not be made public. 

Sensitive personal data such as email addresses and phone numbers will only be used to help process your application(s). 

We use the information that you have given us in order to administer and discharge the functions required of us under the Building Act 1984 (on legislation.gov.uk), the Building Safety Act 2022 (on legislation.gov.uk) and the Building Regulations (as amended) 2010 (on legislation.gov.uk) to make sure of: 

• the health, safety and welfare of people in and around buildings 
• the energy efficiency of those buildings 

How the law allows us to use your personal information

The Building Regulations (as amended) 2010 (on legislation.gov.uk), sections 13,14 and 18, makes it a requirement that any persons who undertakes building work at their premises applies for building control consent. In applying for building control consent you must provide your name, address and contact details.

The council also has a statutory duty to protect members of the public from dangerous buildings or structures under the Building Act 1984 (on legislation.gov.uk), sections 77,78 and 79. In doing so it may be necessary to get the name and address of the building or structure owner so that the dangerous condition of the structure or building can be abated or if the council has to exercise its enforcement powers in relation to the matter.

All data will be held securely in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and Oxford City Council’s Privacy Policy. 

Who we share your information with 

Information held by the council may be shared with: 

• other council departments such as legal services
• other relevant local authority building control teams within England or Wales, if your application has been submitted under a partner Authority Plan Checking scheme and the agent is registered with the national LABC partnership scheme
• other local or national enforcement agencies 
• statutory consultants such as Thames Water or the fire and rescue service 

How long will we keep your information?

Your information will be kept safe and confidential and handled with care in accordance with the law and the Council’s Records Retention Schedule.

Providing personal data, data protection and your rights

As a data subject you have number of rights. Please refer to our main privacy notice for details of your rights and how we protect your data.

More information

• Oxford City Council’s Corporate Privacy Notice. 
• Our Data Protection Policy
• Data Protection and your rights
• How to make a data protection request or raise privacy concerns or questions