The services process personal information in order to manage and administer the Highways service either directly or jointly with partners and commissioned private and third sector providers. This includes:

• to enable us to meet all legal and statutory functions under the Highways Act 1980
• to understand your needs in order to provide the services you require under Highways and Environment operations and Network Management activities
• to inform you of any updates / outcomes to your enquiry via telephone, email or via our ‘Report It’ system

The service processes personal information which is relevant to individual cases which may include, but is not limited to, the following personal data:

• your name
• your address
• your telephone number(s)
• your email address
• payment details (card numbers etc.) which are held securely and encrypted in the Councils Financial systems
• vehicle registration number
• further personal details such as gender and age, of anyone involved in a road accident on the public highway, which includes human injury or death (as recorded on a 'STATS19' report form used by police officers in Great Britain)
• site location information provided in your application for a highway service

The legal bases for processing this personal information are:

Much of what we do in Highways is governed by legislation, set nationally, which requires us to provide various services across the adopted highway in Worcestershire. We process personal data to deliver public tasks outlined in the follow pieces of legislation:

• Local Government Act 2000
• Highways Act (HA) 1980
• Traffic Management Act 2004 (Parking Enforcement)
• New Roads and Streetworks Act (NRSWA) 1991
• Road Traffic Act 2016
• Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
• Health And Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA)
• Town and Country Planning Act 1990
• Freedom of information (FOI) act 2000
• Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004
• Local Land Charges Act 1975
• Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000
• Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
• Commons Registration Act 1965
• Commons Act 2006
• Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Equality Act 2010

The information we collect and store is also used to provide an auditable record of service delivery and enables us to contact people initiating reports/issues to request further information or provide updates.
 

We may need to share the personal information you have given to us or we’ve collected about you with partner organisations where relevant to the individual and/or their service provision. 

These include but are not limited to:

• other service areas across the Council
• contractors or agents
• elected Councillors and Parish Councils
• other partner agencies and government departments such as the Police (in regard to road safety)
• DVLA
• Network Rail
• District Councils in Worcestershire
• Highways England

Information will only ever be shared when it is strictly necessary to help us provide effective services and you may have the right to refuse.

We will not pass it onto any other parties unless required to do so by law or in all reasonable circumstances the disclosure is fair and warranted for the purposes of processing or subject to a data protection exemption.

We have specific data sharing agreements in place with local agencies and sometimes the law requires that we may have to pass your details on to a third party, for example, to prevent crime.
 

The standard record retention for a record relating to Highways is 6 years from when the enquiry was closed. However there are also a range of other retention periods affecting different types of information and service needs and these range from 1 year to Permanently depending on the type of information and service. More information about our retention periods can be found in our summary Disposal Schedule (Excel file).

Please note stated retention periods may be subject to any legal holds imposed under the Inquiries Act 2005 that may concern the information and override standard retention periods.

You are entitled to a copy, or a description, of the personal data we hold that relates to you, subject to lawful restrictions. Please go to our Make a Data Protection Request webpage to find out how to make a request.

You may be entitled to rectification, restriction, objection, and erasure of your personal information depending on the service and legal basis. Please in the first instance contact dataprotection@worcestershire.gov.uk to exercise these Information Rights or call the main Worcestershire County Council contact telephone number of 01905 765765.

Please see our overarching Privacy Notice for further contact details and if you have a complaint about your information rights.

We keep this Privacy Notice under regular review and we will place any updates on this web page. This Notice was last updated on 2 April 2024.