Flood risk management privacy notice

1. Council contact details

1.1. West Northamptonshire Council

Registered Office:

One Angel Square
Angel Street
Northampton
NN1 1ED

This notice explains what personal data (information) we hold about you, how we collect it, how we use it and how we may share information that we hold about you in order to deliver our services. We are required to give you this information under data protection law.

West Northamptonshire Council is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services. The Privacy Notice below explains how we use information about you and how we protect your privacy.

West Northamptonshire Council complies with data protection legislation (the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and are registered as Data Controllers (Reg. No. ZA896620).

2. Information that we hold

2.1. We currently collect and process the following information:

contact details
address details
impact of flooding to property, health and finances
photos of flooding and property
website user statistics
historical flooding records of all sources
flooding photographs
details of improvement schemes undertaken after flood events
details of any future work in relation to surface water management/drainage
LDF and Spatial Plans/land use planning and urban development updates
Reports: Strategic Flood Risk Assessments/Drainage Plans/Water Cycle Strategies – including GIS-layers/maps/databases
Emergency Plans – Multi Agency Flood Plan
details of flood risk assets, their ownership and state of repair
details on any sustainable drainage systems
costs of damage to properties caused by previous flood events
Catchment Flood Management Plans and associated data
Strategic Flood Risk Assessments and associated data
Water Cycle Strategies and associated data
Drainage Plans and associated data
any other information required for RMAs to exercise their flood risk management functions under the Act

3. How the information is obtained

3.1 Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

service delivery
service improvement and design
to fulfil requests for information or services

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

through investigatory work on flooding issues;
through sharing of Asset Register data between risk management authorities under Section 21 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010

3.2. There are a number of reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information.

Generally, we collect and use personal information where:

it is necessary to meet our legal obligation to discharge our flood risk management duties under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, Flood Risk Regulations 2009, Land Drainage Act 1991 and the Audit Commission Act 1998
you have requested a service from us
you have entered into a contract with us
it is necessary to protect public health
it is required for the defense of legal cases
you, or your legal representative, have given us your consent
you have made your information publicly available
is necessary for archiving, research, or statistical purposes - for these purposes your data would be used in a pseudonymised format (name and other identifying information replaced with a unique number)

We may also receive your information from other organisations such as parish councils referring you to us for our services.

The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (the Act) identifies responsibilities for flood and coastal erosion risk management authorities (RMAs) together with a duty on all relevant authorities involved to co-operate.

There is a duty on Lead Local Flood Authorities within the Act (Section 21) to create and maintain a register of flood risk assets.

4. What we do with the information

4.1. We use the information that you have given us:

to fulfil your request for information or services
to discharge our flood risk management duties under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, Flood Risk Regulations 2009 and Land Drainage Act 1991
as input to improving our site
as part of the process of consultation

Your information will only be used in those activities necessary to provide you with the service you have requested or require. Any information provided via the comments/compliments/complaints area of the website will be used for the purposes which we reasonably believe it was provided for.

Information will not be sold, rented or provided to anyone else, or used for any other purpose than that for which it was originally collected unless required to by law.

4.2. We are required under Section 6 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 to participate in the National Fraud Initiative data matching exercise. The data held will be used for cross-system and cross authority comparison for the prevention and detection of fraud.

4.3. We may share with Risk Management Authorities as defined under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. Any organisation we contract with to discharge our flood and water management responsibilities.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law. Any information sharing is undertaken in accordance with UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and s13 and s14 Flood and Water Management Act 2010. We have mechanisms in place to share information lawfully and securely.

5. How long we keep your information for and how we securely dispose of it after use

5.1. We keep your personal information for all aspects of processing in line with the council’s retention schedules.

5.2 We will securely dispose of your information in line with the council's retention schedules.

6. How we store your information

6.1 Your information is securely stored on the council’s systems.

7. Your data protection rights

7.1. The law gives you several rights to control what personal information is used by us and how we can use it. Please see section 15 of the council’s Privacy Policy for further information.

7.2. Please be aware that your rights may differ depending on the lawful basis for processing your personal data.

7.3. The right to withdraw consent (if applicable). You can ask that we no longer use your details for this [processing/groups of processing]. If you wish to exercise this right, please contact the Data Protection Officer.

8. Who to contact

8.1. If you would like further information about how we use your personal information, or you wish to exercise one of your data rights or you wish to complain about the use of your personal information please contact the Data Protection Officer.

8.2. If you are still dissatisfied once you have contacted the Data Protection Officer, you have the right to complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

9 Changes to this privacy notice

9.1 Privacy notices are live documents, which will be updated or revised in line with legislation.

Last updated 06 July 2023