1. Who we are
PlanningTrack helps people find and explore UK planning applications. In this policy, “PlanningTrack”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean the operator identified below. The operator is responsible for deciding how personal information is used in this service (the data controller).
- Operator
- WTF Property Investing Limited, trading as PlanningTrack
- Company number
- 12744209 · Registered in England and Wales
- [Privacy and service contact email]
- Registered office and postal address
- Omega Court, 376 Cemetery Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom, S11 8FT
This policy covers our website and planning search service. Council registers and other websites you visit through our links have their own privacy notices.
2. Information we handle
- Website and search data. When you visit or search, your request can include an IP address, browser information, requested pages, search terms, filters and the time of access. Our hosting infrastructure processes requests to deliver the service and may record technical information for security and troubleshooting. Avoid including sensitive personal information in searches.
- Public planning records. We collect information from local planning authority registers and supplementary public planning data providers, including PlanIt. Records may contain property addresses, proposals, applicant and agent names, dates, decisions, document metadata and source links. We also retain source pages and record history as evidence of what the source published. Publicly available information can still be personal data.
- Developer accounts. We store your verified email address, account and session records, named API key hashes, and usage totals to provide authenticated API access. Sign-in codes are stored as hashes. API request diagnostics contain endpoint templates, key labels, status, duration and request IDs; they exclude raw search queries, credentials and response bodies.
- Correspondence. If you contact us, we use the contact details and information you provide to respond and keep a record of the enquiry. Please only send information needed to explain your request.
- Preview forms. The current alert and plan setup forms keep entries such as your email, company, location and preferences in the page while you use it. They do not submit those entries, activate alerts or take payment. If you choose to search for planning records from a preview, the selected location becomes a search request. Your browser may separately retain information through its own autofill or history settings.
Accounts, email delivery and paid subscriptions are not currently active. We will update this policy and provide relevant information before collecting data for those features.
3. Why we use information
Where UK data protection law applies, we need a lawful basis for using personal information. The bases relevant to this service are:
- Legitimate interests: operating and securing the website, diagnosing faults, answering general enquiries, and making public planning activity easier to find and understand. For public records, this includes maintaining provenance and planning history. These interests must be balanced against the rights and reasonable expectations of the people concerned.
- Contract or steps you request before a contract: responding to a specific request about a service you want us to provide, where the use of your information is necessary for that request.
- Legal obligations: handling data protection requests, complying with binding legal requirements and keeping records where required by law.
- Consent: where required for an optional activity, we will ask first and explain how to withdraw it. The current site does not send marketing emails or run optional advertising or analytics trackers.
We do not use the service to make solely automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.
6. Retention and security
To limit automated harvesting, we count records returned, distinct records viewed and pagination requests against network and account allowances. Short-lived counters and hashed record identifiers expire within 24 hours and are removed by scheduled cleanup. Security logs record allowance restrictions and aggregate usage without search terms, record contents or raw IP addresses.
API request diagnostics are retained for 30 days, with daily usage summaries for up to 90 days. Account records, key hashes and monthly usage totals remain while your account exists. Deleting your account revokes access and removes these records. Expired sign-in verification records and sessions are regularly removed.
Retention depends on the information and its purpose. Technical records are needed to investigate faults and abuse; correspondence may be needed until an enquiry and any related dispute are resolved. Legal obligations may require some records to be held longer.
Planning records, source evidence and change history are kept to support historical research, accuracy and provenance. The need for continued retention must take account of the record’s relevance, source changes, privacy concerns and any applicable legal requirements. A source removing a record does not automatically remove an earlier copy from PlanningTrack.
You can ask us to review the inclusion or retention of your personal information. We will consider the request against its purpose and any lawful reason to retain it. We use technical and organisational measures appropriate to the service to protect information, but no internet service can guarantee absolute security.
7. Your rights
Depending on the circumstances and lawful basis, you may ask to access your personal information, correct inaccurate information, erase it, restrict its use or receive a portable copy. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests, and withdraw consent where we rely on it. Withdrawing consent does not affect earlier lawful processing.
Use the contact details above to make a request. For a planning record, include the PlanningTrack page or application reference and explain the concern. We may need proportionate information to confirm your identity. We normally respond within one month; if a lawful extension is needed, we will explain why. These rights are not absolute.
We can review information held by PlanningTrack. Changes to the council’s original register must be addressed with that authority separately.
You can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator. You do not have to contact us first, although we welcome the opportunity to address your concern.
8. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the service or our obligations change. The date above identifies the latest version. For material changes, we will provide an appropriate notice and seek consent where required. See our Terms of Service for the conditions of using PlanningTrack.