Council have published my home address against my planning objection

k3lvc

Addresses are always visible in our local councils portal - if nothing else it goes to prove the relevance of the objection and whether there's just a sudden influx of objections/letters of support from people with no direct connection.

As said before it's a public process and has always been so - just easier to find now it's online rather than having to traipse down to the Council offices

leafy211

I simply cant see what benefit is gained from my address being shown to all, except to put me off, as a member of the public, from raising an objection.  The objection of course has to be shared, if the council needs an opinion from the applicant.  (Notwithstanding in my case, my objection is more against the council for not doing any due diligence around the safety of the application!)  Regardless..  its completely irrelevant where i live .. i could be in Scotland raising and objection about something in Wales.  One doesnt have to have a direct connection to raise an objection to something - thank goodness!  The relevance of an objection should be determined by the Council, and they dont need to publish a home address to do that. And just because its always been done this way doesnt make it right ... it goes against even the most basic rules of GDPR and I just cant understand how it can be permitted.

daveyjp

It has been explained the home address of an individual isn't personal data so GDPR doesn't apply.

You have made a valid objection, the planning process is the due diligence on whether site access and agress and emergency access is safe.

This will be responded to by the highways and building control departments.

powerful_Rogue

leafy211 said:

I simply cant see what benefit is gained from my address being shown to all, except to put me off, as a member of the public, from raising an objection.  The objection of course has to be shared, if the council needs an opinion from the applicant.  (Notwithstanding in my case, my objection is more against the council for not doing any due diligence around the safety of the application!)  Regardless..  its completely irrelevant where i live .. i could be in Scotland raising and objection about something in Wales.  One doesnt have to have a direct connection to raise an objection to something - thank goodness!  The relevance of an objection should be determined by the Council, and they dont need to publish a home address to do that. And just because its always been done this way doesnt make it right ... it goes against even the most basic rules of GDPR and I just cant understand how it can be permitted.

It doesn't.

The process works, has worked like this forever. Someone living in Scotland and objecting to a property in Wales isn't going to be taken very seriously.

user1977

leafy211 said:

i could be in Scotland raising and objection about something in Wales.  One doesnt have to have a direct connection to raise an objection to something - thank goodness!  The relevance of an objection should be determined by the Council, and they dont need to publish a home address to do that.

And how does anybody know whether the council have applied appropriate weight to such objections, if nobody else can tell whether the objector is next door or on the other side of the world?

Or whether the concerned voices are actually local constituents, or some lobby group with no connection to or knowledge of the area?

leafy211

the council know my address so they can do their weighing up without any need whatsoever to publish it to all and sundry.  
I sincerely hope its not the case that a valid objection isnt taken seriously by the council, just because it comes from someone who doesnt live next door to the issue. Its their job to take every objection seriously and either provide the anwer to quash the objection, or do the relevant research to ensure the objection hasnt made a good point that they wont have considered or chose to ignore.
Maybe supporters of the council being allowed to advertise private details of a resident who has objected to a planning application could explain to me any benefit in doing so (bearing in mind the council already has all the personal details of that person)

user1977

leafy211 said:

the council know my address so they can do their weighing up without any need whatsoever to publish it to all and sundry.

But how does the council do so transparently, if they're the only ones who know who the objectors are? Really think you're missing the point here.

leafy211

why does anyone else need to know?  They only need to know what the objection in.  Personalities, who know who, etc - should have absolutely no part to play in this type of thing.  Please explain to me what point im missing how my address being made public makes an objection valid or not?

leafy211

what the objection is

mjm3346

Regardless of whether this was online or not your neighbour as the applicant will have access to all documents for or against (as indeed anyone who called into the council office could, just like anyone can see the full electoral register opted-out or not) this enables them to address any issues raised which might include showing the actual impact on a complainer would be very very small or how any impact could be alleviated.