Guidance

Nutrient mitigation scheme privacy notice

Updated 13 November 2024

Applies to England

Who collects your personal data

The data controller is Natural England at:

Foss House
Kings Pool
1-2 Peasholme Green
York
Y01 7PX

Send questions about how Natural England uses your personal data and your associated rights to the Data Protection Manager by:

Natural England
County Hall
Spetchley Road
Worcester
WR5 2NP

The Data Protection Officer for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) group is responsible for checking that Natural England complies with legislation. You can contact them by


Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
SW Quarter
2nd floor
Seacole Block
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

What personal data is collected and how it is used

Natural England will use information that includes, but is not limited to:

  • names
  • date of birth
  • contact details
  • email addresses
  • phone numbers
  • nationality
  • bank details
  • national insurance number

This information will be used  to broker credits between housing companies who need to purchase credits, and land owners who will create and sell mitigation credits. Therefore we need to capture details of who requires credits, and who owns or can create credits.

It will also be used to undertake customer due diligence (CDD) checks prior to your application being accepted.

We may also share your contact details with our third-party suppliers, in order to seek your voluntary sign up to undertaking user research.

Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest which is laid down by law. Details can be found in sections 1 and 2 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006. These set out Natural England’s general purposes. Natural England has the power under section 6 of the NERC Act 2006 to give financial assistance, including by way of grants.

You can withdraw your consent before any funding is issued.

Once the funding has been awarded, processing your data is no longer based on consent. You cannot withdraw it.

Who Natural England shares your personal data with

Contact details will be shared with organisations or individuals acting on Natural England’s behalf to undertake customer due diligence check, specialist site assessment and monitoring.

If during checks it is identified that a crime has been committed, then data will be shared with the relevant competent body.

We will share your contact details with organisations or individuals acting on Natural England’s behalf, in order to seek your voluntary participation in user research.

Natural England respects your personal privacy when responding to access to information requests. We only share information when necessary to meet the statutory requirements of:

  • the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
  • the Freedom of Information Act 2000

How long Natural England holds personal data

For successful applicants, Natural England will retain personal data for 10 years for reporting and financial monitoring. After this time, we will remove personal data from our database but retain a record of the development.

For applications that are rejected, Natural England will retain personal data for 3 years, to enable reapplication and monitoring.

What happens if you do not provide the data requested

If you do not provide the data,  you will unable to apply for the scheme.

Use of automated decision-making or profiling

The information you provide is not used for:

  • automated decision-making (making a decision by automated means without any human involvement)
  • profiling (automated processing of personal data to evaluate certain things about an individual)

Transfer of data outside the UK

During the customer due diligence check stage, our 3rd party processor will process your personal data in India, using their Sharepoint site hosted in the United States of America.

Your rights

Find out about your individual rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Complaints

You have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time.

Natural England’s personal information charter

Natural England’s personal information charter explains more about your rights over your personal data.