Guidance

EIA (Agriculture) appeals: privacy notice

Published 3 October 2023

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2023

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eia-agriculture-appeals-privacy-notice/eia-agriculture-appeals-privacy-notice

Who collects your personal data

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the controller for the personal data we collect:

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Seacole Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

If you need further information about how Defra uses your personal data and your associated rights, you can contact the Defra data protection manager at data.protection@defra.gov.uk or at the above address.

The data protection officer for Defra is responsible for checking that Defra complies with legislation. You can contact them at DefraGroupDataProtectionOfficer@defra.gov.uk or at the above address.

What personal data we collect and how it is used

Appellants

Defra, in accordance with Article 4(1) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation, collects and stores your:

  • name
  • gender
  • contact details
  • economic and social identifiers
  • reasons for making an appeal under the regulations

Defra uses the information provided in the EIA (Agriculture) appeals applications and any supporting material to make its decision on appeal cases. This will include, but is not limited to:

  • assessing your appeal application
  • issuing an appeal decision

Interested parties

Defra collects and stores your:

  • name
  • gender
  • contact details
  • economic and social identifiers
  • opinions on the project

Defra uses the information to ask if you want to be involved in the appeal or not, and if so to gather your opinions for the appeal.

How your personal data has been obtained, if from a third party

Defra collects personal data directly from farmers or landowners (as the appellant) and receives interested parties’ personal data from both appellants and Natural England.

The lawful basis for processing your personal data

Processing your data is necessary for the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller – this is the task given to Defra under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (England) (No.2) Regulations 2006.

The processing of your data is not based on consent, so you cannot withdraw consent for Defra to process your data. You can however choose not to take part in an appeal.

Who Defra shares your personal data with

Defra may share your information with other organisations or individuals at certain stages of the appeals decision process, and once it has reached a final decision.

Defra may do this to:

  • check information you provide
  • gather information from other parties to an appeal
  • get or check specialist or technical information about an appeal

Table 1: organisations and individuals Defra shares information with and the activities and purposes it does this for

Organisation Individuals
Defra arms lengths bodies (such as Natural England, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission) Collect or check specialist or technical information about an appeal
Other public bodies (such as Historic England) Collect or check specialist or technical information about an appeal
Industry and charitable bodies (such as English Heritage, Local Environmental or Biological Records Centre, Wildlife Trust, National Trust, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Association, National Park Authority, The Garden Trust and Open Spaces Society) Collect or check specialist or technical information about an appeal
Appellants Collect written representations and supporting documents to process an appeal
Interested parties Collect written representations in support or against an appeal

Defra respects your personal privacy when responding to access to information requests. We only share information when necessary to meet statutory requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

How long Defra holds personal data

Defra will keep your personal data for 15 years in accordance with Defra’s retention schedule.

What happens if you do not provide the data requested

Appellants

If you’re making an appeal, Defra will be unable to process it if you do not provide the personal data.

Interested parties

If you’re supporting or opposing an appeal, Defra will be unable to use any written representations you submit when considering the appeal if you do not provide the personal data.

Use of automated decision-making or profiling

The personal information you provide is not used for:

  • automated decision making (making a decision by automated means without any human involvement)
  • profiling (automated processing of personal data to evaluate certain things about an individual)

Transfer of your data outside of the UK

Defra will only transfer your data to another country that is deemed adequate for data protection purposes.

Your rights

Find out about your individual rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018.

Complaints

You have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time.

Defra’s personal information charter

Defra’s personal information charter explains more about your rights over your personal data.

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