Guidance

Weeds Act privacy notice

Updated 13 November 2024

Applies to England

This privacy notice explains what happens to your personal data when you make a complaint under the Weeds Act 1959.

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 Natural England Data Protection Manager at foi@naturalengland.org.uk or:

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 at DefraGroupDataProtectionOfficer@defra.gov.uk or:

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

What personal data’s collected and how it’s used

Natural England collects:

• your name
• your contact details
• your county parish holding number, if you have one
• the details of the complaint
• the inspector’s views on the management of the land you’ve complained about
• other information that forms part of the complaint

Natural England will use your name and contact details to contact you about an investigation. It will use the other information as part of any investigation into the complaint.

The legal basis for processing your personal data

Processing your data is necessary:

• for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest
• in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller

This allows Natural England to carry its injurious weeds functions as set out in the Weeds Act 1959, as delegated by Defra to Natural England under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.

Consent to process your personal data

The processing of your data is not based on consent. You cannot withdraw it.

Who Natural England shares your personal data with

Natural England shares your information with Defra and the Rural Payments Agency so they can help establish and investigate a valid complaint.

Natural England will not normally disclose your identity to third parties, including the person or organisation you’ve complained about. However, in some circumstances Natural England may be legally required to reveal your name to the occupier of the land concerned. This means Natural England cannot guarantee your anonymity.

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 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

How long Natural England holds personal data

Natural England will keep your personal data for 7 years after the end of the complaint.

What happens if you do not provide the data

Natural England will be unable to investigate the complaint fairly.

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 of the UK

Natural England will only transfer your data to another country that is deemed adequate for data protection purposes.

Your rights

Find out about your individual rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) 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.