Winchester City Council

City Offices

Colebrook Street
Winchester
Hampshire
SO23 9LJ

Email: customerservice@winchester.gov.uk

Tel: 01962 848 222

Website: Home - Winchester City Council

 

You can contact the Building Control team directly by emailing Buildingcontrol@winchester.gov.uk, or by phone on 01962 848176.

 

We currently collect and process the following information for functions carried out by our Building Control Service:

• names, addresses and contact details (phone numbers and email addresses) of applicants, agents, representatives, public contributors, complainants and enquirers
• property or site details

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you or your representative for one of the following reasons:

• as part of an application
• by contributing to applications and consultations
• to make an enquiry, request or complaint
• to report alleged breaches of building control
• to request regular communications and updates

We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:

• Land Registry enquiries, to identify landowners, investigate allegations and serve notices
• complainants, reporting alleged breaches of building controlThere are a number of reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information.

Generally, we collect and use personal information when:

• it is necessary to meet our legal obligations set out in law
• we are carrying out a task which is in the public interest which is supported in law
• you have requested a service from us
• you, or your legal representative, have given us your consent
• on the basis of substantial public interest, when processing special category data, which will be proportionate to the aim pursued

The legislation which supports this processing is mainly in the list below but from time to time other legislation may be relied as the legal basis for processing data:

• Building Act 1984
• Building Regulations 2010 (as amended)

We use the information that you have given us in order to:

• consider and determine applications
• assess fee exemptions using health data
• advise you of and carry out consultations
• provide updates
• carry out investigations and enforcement action
• tell you the outcome of an application, enquiry, request or investigation
• issue and serve notices

Failure to provide data such as the applicant name or other relevant information will mean your application cannot be processed

We keep your personal information for the purpose of building control matters in line with the council’s retention policy and schedules. 

We will securely dispose of your information in line with our retention and disposal policies, which you can find on our Privacy Policy page.

Completed building work

For the following types of application, we keep full records for 15 years.

• Full Plans
• Building Notices
• Regularisations
• Initial Notices
• Reversions
• After 15 years, we keep a basic electronic record for reference only, in line with National Building Control performance standards.
• The information we keep after 15 years is limited to:
• Application reference number
• Property address
• Brief description of the work
• Decision type
• Decision date
• Completion date
• We remove all personal information, such as names and contact details. We do not keep plans, drawings or technical details after this time.

Applications where work did not start

If building work does not start within three years of an application being validated, we may reduce the amount of information we keep.

After three years, we may only keep:

• Application reference number
• Property address
• Brief description of the work
• Decision type
• Decision date

Historic records –

Commenced but not completed

Some older applications show that work started but was not marked as completed.

For these applications, we keep all records for 15 years from the date the application was submitted.

Most building projects are completed within one to three years. It is therefore reasonable to expect that historic projects would normally have been finished within five years. If we are not called to inspect at the relevant stages or if work stops for an extended period, there may be an additional charge to revisit the application. (individually assessed) 

If an application is still recorded as incomplete, we may only keep a basic electronic record, which includes:

• Application reference number
• Property address
• Brief description of the work
• Decision type
• Decision date

Your information is securely stored electronically on the council’s systems. Where hard copy files are also maintained, these are held in a secure environment.

The law gives you a number of rights over what personal information is used by us and how we use it. Please see the council’s Privacy Policy for further information Privacy Policy - Winchester City Council 

Please be aware that your rights may differ depending on the lawful basis for processing your personal data.

Details on our website Data Protection and Privacy - Winchester City Council 

If you would like further information about how we use your personal information, or you wish to exercise one of your data rights or you wish to complain about the use of your personal information please contact our Data Protection Officer.  Details on our website Data Protection and Privacy - Winchester City Council

If you are still dissatisfied once you have contacted the Data Protection Officer, you have the right to complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Website Home | ICO

Privacy notices are live documents, which will be updated or revised in line with legislation.

Last updated August 2026