City of York Council's (CYC) current data protection notification is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - reference Z5809563.
We regularly review this privacy notice, and it was last updated in March 2025.
CYC is committed to ensuring that personal data is handled in accordance with the principles set out in data protection legislation and guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
This privacy notice tells you what to expect when we process your information and it applies to:
- requests for road closures, footpath closures, and parking suspensions.
- applications to change or introduce speed limits
- applications for temporary building development signage
- applications for temporary event signage
CYC is the controller for the personal data we process, unless otherwise stated. You can contact the council’s Data Protection Officer at:
West OfficesStation Rise
York
YO1 6GA
Telephone: 01904 554145.
Email: information.governance@york.gov.uk.
This privacy notice should be read in conjunction with other relevant CYC specific privacy notices that are available in our Privacy Notice or other policies and procedures.
When appropriate we will provide a ‘just in time’ notice to cover any additional processing activities not mentioned in this privacy notice.
- How we collect your information
- What personal data we process and why
- Automated decision-making
- Collecting information automatically
- Children's information
- Lawful basis for processing your personal data
- How long we keep your personal data
- Data sharing
- Data processors and/or third parties
- Transfers of personal data
- How we protect your information
- Your rights in relation to this processing
How we collect your information
We get information about you from the following sources:
- directly from you
- from third parties acting on your behalf such as family members, advocates and others
What personal data we process and why
We process your personal data and special categories of personal data such as:
- name
- address
- phone number
- email address
- your comments, feedback and opinions if you choose to take part in our surveys or consultations
We will use your information:
- to assess and make a decision on your application for
- a road or footpath closure
- a parking suspension
- a change to speed limits
- temporary building development signage
- temporary event signage
- a highway licence or permit
- when you purchase a highways service
- when you become involved in highways projects or programmes
- when carrying out our obligations arising from any contracts or agreements entered into be you and us
- for invoicing and audit trail purposes due to the legal orders and notices being generated for road closures and parking suspensions
- when you request information or comment on highways in general
We will send you communications which you have requested or that may be of interest and also update you on any changes to the application process and requirements, such as timescales for lead in times. If you do not wish to receive these, please let us know by contacting us on email: highway.regulation@york.gov.uk
If you choose to take part in our surveys or consultations, you can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us on email: highway.regulation@york.gov.uk.
When you make an online payment you can find out what the council does with your information in our Online Payments Privacy Notice.
When you complete and online form on the council's website and you have provided your email address, we will send you a copy of your completed online form.
We may use your information to create reports and statistic that are anonymous and cannot be linked back to you, your family or individuals such as:
- statistical analysis
- statutory returns
- audit framework
- see how the council and its partners are supporting individuals
- help design better services
- inform the funding decisions
We may also make available the final submitted and approved Traffic Management Plans however these will not identify you or any individuals.
Automated decision-making
We do not carry out any automated decision-making without any human intervention in providing this service.
Collecting information automatically
Please see our Cookies Policy for further information about the information we collect automatically when you use our website.
Children’s information
Where we provide services directly to children or young people, the information in the relevant parts of this notice applies to children and young people, as well as adults.
Lawful basis for processing your personal data
Any personal data including special category data that we process about individuals is done so in accordance with one or more of the following Article 6 and 9 of the UK GDPR and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).
Article 6(1):
- (a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for the council to process their personal data for a specific purpose
- (b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract the council has with the individual, or because they have asked the council to take specific steps before entering into a contract
- (c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for the council to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations)
- (e) Public task: the processing is necessary for the council to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law
- (f) Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for the council’s legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests (this cannot apply to processing data to perform the council’s official tasks)
Article 9(2):
- (a) Explicit consent
- (b) Employment, social security and social protection (if authorised by law)
- (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)
This is supported by the following legal framework:
- Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
- The New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 - allows utility companies, the 'statutory undertakers', to carry out work in the highway in respect of their statutory functions in line with national rules. Anyone else must obtain Streetworks permission before carrying out excavations within our highway network
- The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016
Some of the Schedule 1 conditions for processing special category data require an Appropriate Policy Document (APD) to be in place, which sets out and explains the procedures for securing compliance with the principles in Article 5 and policies regarding the retention and erasure of such personal data. This document explains this processing and satisfies the requirements of Schedule 1, Part 4 of the DPA 2018 and supplements this privacy notice.
Our Appropriate Policy Document provides further information about this processing.
How long we keep your personal data
We will only keep your information for as long as it is needed then it will be securely and confidentially deleted or disposed of.
You can find more details about how long the council keeps records in the Council retention schedule.
See further details about how long the council keeps records.
Data sharing
We Will only share your information where it is appropriate to, with:
- other council services
- third parties including our data processors, partners or contractors who undertake work on our behalf
- government agencies
- internal and external auditors
In some circumstances, such as under a court order or safeguarding, we are legally obliged to share information.
We will always satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information and document our decision-making.
Additionally we are required under the Public Records Act 1958 (as amended) to transfer records to the City or National Archives (TNA) for permanent preservation. Full consideration will be given to Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation when making decisions about whether such records should be open to the public.
Data processors and/or third parties
Where we have third parties providing parts or all of our services for us, we have contracts or agreements in place with them. These include:
- Documentum as our document management system, and you can find out more in the Open Text Privacy Notice.
- Civica for online payments - You can find out how they use information at Civica Data Privacy Notice
- Microsoft Teams, to contact you, to gather information from you, or if we are recording or transcribing our discussion or meeting with you, we will let you know. You can find more details about this in the City of York Council Microsoft Office 365 (MS365) Teams Meeting recording and transcription privacy notice
- SurveyMonkey for surveys or consultation etc you can find out how they use your information in the SurveyMonkey Privacy Notice
- Zimma Ltd trading as Ticket Tailor for arranging and organising events etc you can find out how they use your information in the Ticket Tailor Privacy Policy
- Eventbrite for arranging and organising events etc you can find out how they use your information in the Eventbrite Privacy Policy
- Granicus/Gov Delivery to send you updates, newsletters etc you can find out how they use your information in the Granicus Privacy Policy
- WhatsApp to contact you. You can find out how they use your information in the WhatsApp Privacy Policy
Transfers of personal data
We don’t routinely transfer personal data or special catagories of personal data outside of the UK but when this is necessary we ensure that we have appropriate safeguards in place and that is done in accordance with the UK data protection and privacy legislation.
How we protect your information
We're committed to keeping your information safe and secure. There are several ways we do this, such as:
- IT security safeguards such as firewalls, encryption, and anti-virus software
- on-site security safeguards to protect physical files and electronic equipment
- training for all staff and elected councillors
- policies and procedures
Your rights in relation to this processing
To find out about your rights under data protection law, you can go to the Information Commissioner's Office website.
You can also find information about your rights in our Privacy Notice.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice, want to exercise your rights, or if you have a complaint about how your information has been used, please contact us on email: information.governance@york.gov.uk, or on telephone: 01904 554145, or write to:
Data Protection OfficerCity of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York YO1 6GA