Council hides public comments from planning portal over GDPR concerns

Wakefield Council has chosen to remove comments from its planning portal to avoid potential GDPR breaches.

The council said the move would help protect people's personal information, adding that comments will still be viewable but only on request.

Wakefield's Service Director for Planning, Transportation and Strategic Highways, Joe Jenkinson, said: "We regularly have personal data and information shared as part of these comments, and we have a duty to protect their information under GDPR rules."

Jenkinson said that making comments readable on request only will allow the council time to appropriately redact comments to protect personal information before being shared.

He added: "Please be assured that all comments received will still be taken into account through the usual planning process."

The council plans to review its decision later in the year.

Councils have been electing to remove comments from their planning portals as early as 2018 when GDPR came into force. Westminster City Council was among the first to make the change. 

Buckinghamshire Council meanwhile began hiding comments in March of this year, citing possible GDPR breaches.

Adam Carey