Privacy Policy

Privacy Notice

Effective date: 7 October 2026
Last updated: 7 October 2026

1. Who we are

Plotline Planning LLP provides town planning consultancy services.

Plotline Planning LLP is the controller of personal information covered by this Privacy Notice. This means that we are responsible for deciding how and why that information is used.

Plotline Planning LLP
Registered office: 43 Quarry Park Road, Exeter EX2 5PB
LLP registration number: 17266732
Trading address, if different: 43 Quarry Park Road, Exeter EX2 5PB 
Privacy enquiries: info@PlotlinePlanning.co.uk

This Privacy Notice explains how we use personal information in connection with our consultancy services, business administration and website.

2. The information we use

Depending on the circumstances, we may process information relating to prospective, current and former clients; representatives of corporate clients; landowners and occupiers; applicants and agents; architects and other consultants; planning officers and public-sector contacts; suppliers; and other people legitimately connected with a planning matter.

This may include:

• names, addresses and contact details;
• job titles and organisations;
• property ownership or occupancy information;
• site and property addresses;
• project and planning information;
• correspondence, instructions and records of professional advice;
• notes of meetings and telephone calls where appropriate;
• photographs and site information in which somebody may incidentally be identifiable;
• information from planning applications, planning histories and other public records;
• invoicing, transaction and payment information; and
• information submitted through our website, together with technical website information where our website actually collects it.

Information relating solely to land, a building or a company is not necessarily personal information. Data-protection law applies where the information relates to an identified or identifiable individual.

We seek to collect only the personal information reasonably required for the work we undertake.

3. Where we obtain information

We may obtain personal information directly from you or from other legitimate sources connected with our work. These may include our clients, prospective clients, architects and other professional advisers, Local Planning Authorities, statutory consultees and other public bodies, planning registers, HM Land Registry, other public registers and publicly available sources, and correspondence or documents supplied in connection with a planning matter.

Where we obtain information about you from somebody else, we provide privacy information where the law requires us to do so. In some circumstances the law permits an organisation not to contact every person individually, including where providing individual notice would be impossible or involve disproportionate effort. Where appropriate, publication of this Privacy Notice forms part of the measures we use to make our processing transparent.

4. Why we use personal information

The lawful basis depends upon what we are doing and whose information is involved.

Purpose

Typical information

Usual lawful basis

Responding to enquiries, discussing instructions and preparing quotations

Contact details, property/project details and correspondence

Steps requested before entering a contract; or legitimate interests where we are dealing with somebody acting for another person or organisation

Entering into and performing consultancy engagements

Client details, instructions, correspondence and project information

Contract where you are our client; legitimate interests where we deal with representatives, consultants or other people connected with a client's project

Providing planning consultancy services, including research, assessments, reports, applications, liaison and correspondence with planning authorities and other professionals

Project, property, planning, ownership, contact and correspondence information

Contract where necessary to provide services to an individual client; otherwise legitimate interests in properly delivering the planning services for which we have been instructed; legal obligation where a particular disclosure or activity is required by law

Researching planning history, ownership and other matters relevant to a project

Information from planning registers, Land Registry and other relevant sources

Contract and/or legitimate interests in providing accurate and properly informed professional advice

Managing projects and professional records, including instructions, conflict checks, quality control and records of advice

Client, contact, project and correspondence information

Legitimate interests in operating and administering a professional consultancy and protecting our clients and business; legal obligation where one applies

Invoicing, bookkeeping, accounting and taxation

Contact, transaction, invoice and payment information

Contract, legal obligations and legitimate interests in administering and recovering amounts due

Handling complaints, regulatory matters and establishing, exercising or defending legal claims

Relevant client, project and correspondence information

Legal obligations where applicable and legitimate interests in handling complaints, complying with professional requirements and protecting legal rights

Operating and protecting our website, systems and business

Contact and technical/security information where collected

Legitimate interests in operating secure and reliable business systems; separate PECR requirements may also apply to technologies used on a visitor's device

Direct marketing, if undertaken

Relevant contact and marketing-preference information

Consent or legitimate interests as appropriate. Separate PECR rules apply to electronic marketing and may require consent depending upon the recipient and circumstances

Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests may include responding to genuine business enquiries, providing services through representatives and other professionals, maintaining appropriate professional records, investigating and managing projects, protecting legal rights, securing our systems, preventing fraud and administering and developing our business.

We consider whether the processing is necessary and proportionate and whether those interests are overridden by the rights and interests of the person concerned.

5. Sensitive information

We do not normally need or seek significant amounts of special-category personal information, such as information about health, disability, ethnicity, religion, political opinions or similar matters.

Occasionally such information may genuinely be relevant to a planning matter—for example, information concerning disability, health or accessibility needs. Please do not provide sensitive personal information unless it is genuinely relevant.

Where we need to use special-category information, an ordinary lawful basis must apply and we must also have an appropriate additional condition under data-protection law. The appropriate condition depends on the circumstances and may, for example, involve explicit consent, legal claims or information manifestly made public by the individual. We do not assume that consent is always the appropriate condition.

We do not routinely seek criminal-conviction or offence information. If such information arises in a matter, we will process it only where necessary and legally permitted.

6. Planning applications and public information

An important feature of the planning system is that information submitted in connection with a planning matter may need to be provided to a Local Planning Authority, the Planning Inspectorate, statutory consultees, other public bodies or other professionals involved in the project.

Some application documents and information may subsequently be made publicly available through statutory planning registers or other public records.

Not everything provided to us will necessarily become public. Where we prepare documents intended for public submission, we seek to avoid including unnecessary private or sensitive information.

You should therefore avoid supplying personal or sensitive information for inclusion in planning documents unless it is genuinely required.

Once information has properly been provided to a Local Planning Authority or another independent public body, that organisation is normally responsible for its own decisions about how it processes and publishes the information.

7. Who we may share information with

Where reasonably necessary for the purposes described above, personal information may be disclosed to:

• Local Planning Authorities, the Planning Inspectorate, statutory consultees and other relevant public bodies;
• architects, surveyors, heritage advisers, engineers, ecological consultants and other professionals involved in a project;
• accountants, bookkeepers, insurers, solicitors and other professional advisers;
• IT, email, cloud-storage, software and website service providers;
• courts, tribunals, government bodies and regulators where appropriate; and
• debt-recovery providers where necessary and proportionate.

[CONFIRM any material additional categories of recipient.]

We do not sell personal information.

Some organisations processing information for us may act as our processors and should be subject to appropriate contractual arrangements. Other organisations—particularly planning authorities, public bodies and independently appointed professional advisers—may act as controllers in their own right.

8. International transfers

Where our use of a service involves a restricted transfer of personal information outside the UK, we will ensure that an appropriate legal mechanism applies. Depending upon the destination and circumstances, this may include UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to approved EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or another lawful transfer mechanism.

9. How long we keep information

We do not retain personal information indefinitely merely because it may be useful.

Our retention periods take account of the reason the information was obtained, legal and accounting requirements, relevant limitation periods, professional-risk considerations and any continuing complaint or dispute.

Our normal approach is:

• unsuccessful or abandoned enquiries: 12 months after the last substantive contact;
• ordinary client and project files: normally six years after completion or termination of the engagement;
• contracts and engagement records: normally retained with the relevant client file;
• accounting, invoice and tax records: for the period required by applicable accounting and tax law;
• complaints, disputes and potential claims: for as long as reasonably required to resolve the matter and protect relevant legal rights;
• marketing preferences and objections: sufficient information may be retained to ensure that an opt-out continues to be respected; and
• website and security information: 7 years

Information may be retained for longer where reasonably necessary, including where litigation is anticipated or continuing, a complaint remains unresolved, an insurer reasonably requires relevant records, or a longer period is required by law.

10. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures intended to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

The measures used depend upon the nature of the information and the systems through which it is processed. No system can sensibly be described as completely secure, and this Privacy Notice does not make such a promise.

11. Your rights

Depending upon the circumstances and the lawful basis involved, data-protection law gives you rights which may include the right to:

• obtain information about how your personal information is used and obtain a copy of it;
• have inaccurate information corrected;
• ask for information to be erased in appropriate circumstances;
• ask us to restrict how information is used;
• object to certain processing based on legitimate interests;
• receive certain information in a portable format where the right to data portability applies; and
• withdraw consent where we genuinely rely upon consent.

These rights are not all absolute. For example, we may be entitled or required to retain information despite an erasure request where it is needed to comply with law or establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

If personal information is used for direct marketing, you have the right to object to that use at any time. If you object, we will stop using your personal information for direct marketing.

To exercise a right, contact us using the privacy contact details above. We may need reasonable information to verify your identity or clarify the information or processing to which your request relates.

12. Automated decision-making and software-assisted tools

We may use appropriate software-assisted tools in carrying out professional or administrative work. Where a tool processes personal information, the same data-protection, confidentiality and security requirements continue to apply.

13. Cookies and similar technologies

Our website may use cookies or other technologies that store information on, or access information from, a visitor's device.

The legal requirements depend upon the purpose and configuration of each technology. Some technologies that are strictly necessary to provide a service do not require consent. Certain qualifying statistical or website-functionality technologies may also fall within statutory exceptions, subject to conditions including appropriate information and, where required, a simple means of objecting. Other technologies require consent before they are used.

Please see our Cookie Policy for further information.

14. Direct marketing

We may occasionally send information about our services where it is lawful and appropriate to do so.

Data-protection law and the separate electronic-marketing rules do not treat every recipient in the same way. Whether consent is required can depend upon the method of communication, whether the recipient is an individual, sole trader or corporate subscriber, and whether an applicable existing-customer rule applies.

We will comply with the applicable requirements and provide an appropriate way to opt out. Opting out of marketing will not prevent us from sending communications genuinely required in connection with an enquiry, project, contract or account.

15. Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to websites operated by other organisations. Those organisations are responsible for their own privacy practices. You should review their privacy information where appropriate.

16. Questions and complaints

If you have a question or concern about the way we use your personal information, please contact us first using the privacy contact details above.

You also have the right to make a data-protection complaint to us. We will acknowledge a data-protection complaint within 30 days of receiving it, investigate it appropriately without undue delay, keep you appropriately informed and tell you the outcome without undue delay.

If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to complain to the Information Commission's Office (ICO), the public-facing office of the UK's data-protection regulator, the Information Commission. Further information and the Commission's complaints service are available through the ICO website.

17. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice where our services, systems or legal obligations change.

Where a change materially affects the way we use personal information, we will take appropriate steps to bring that change to the attention of affected people where required.

The current version will be published on our website together with its effective and last-updated dates.