Residents' comments on Bucks planning applications removed after 'data breach'

The change will see residents’ opinions on everything from loft conversions to large housing developments deleted from the council website.

Public representations are due to be removed this week, but letters of support and objection are still live at the time of writing.

People can still have their say on planning apps, but their views will not be uploaded, while existing comments will also be wiped.

Councillor Peter Strachan, the cabinet member for planning and regeneration, said the council would still fully consider residents’ views when determining applications

The Conservative told the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week: “We will however no longer be publishing comments from individuals on the council’s planning page.

“This is because there have been instances of personal data and information being shared and we have a duty to protect the personal information of individuals under GDPR rules.”

The decision to suspend planning comments from public view was quietly waved through during the council’s cabinet meeting last week.

Members adopted a revised statement of community involvement which states on page 24 that comments ‘will not be published online in accordance with the council’s data protection policy and duties’.

During the meeting, Councillor Stuart Wilson asked a public question calling for clarity on the changes.

He said: “Why has there been no consultation with Buckinghamshire councillors or town and parish councils on the proposal to stop publishing public responses to planning applications on the council’s website?”

The Independent also asked what had changed in the council’s data protection policy to stop it publishing responses to planning applications, which he said limited members’ ability to air residents’ concerns.

Councillor Strachan responded by saying that the council’s service director was able to make the decision to suspend viewable planning comments without consultation.

He said: “After investigating a recent data breach, it has been identified that publishing on our website, sensitive personal information made in planning application representations, was a breach of General Data Protection Regulations known as GDPR.”

The Conservative said the council had considered publishing redacted public comments and letters of support and objection.

However, reviewing and removing personal information from representations was considered too costly and time-consuming and would ‘not eliminate the risk entirely’.

Councillor Strachan added: “Having considered the options available, the council has therefore decided to discontinue the publication of public comments on planning applications on its website.”

The cabinet member said this would take effect on the week commencing March 17, 2025, and would remove the GDPR risk.

He said this would allow the council to continue exploring other options, including AI software redactions.

Local authorities are not legally obliged to publish comments and responses on planning applications.

Where they are not publicly available representations can be obtained through environmental information requests.

However, resident comments on planning applications can be a great way to gauge public sentiment towards major developments. Previously, major projects in Buckinghamshire have attracted close to a thousand online comments.