Get an air pollution assessment documentation

Information about the service

Privacy Notice ​

This privacy notice provides information about the 'Get an air pollution assessment' service, and outlines the personal data collected, who manages it and why. It also tells you about your rights in relation to how the service uses your personal data and who to contact if you have any questions or concerns.

The 'Get an air pollution assessment' service calculates the impacts on air quality of new developments being built on sensitive ecological sites. You can use the information created using the service when applying for an environmental permit or planning permission.

Who collects your personal data ​

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the controller for the personal data we collect:

  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF

If you need further information about how Defra uses your personal data and your associated rights, you can contact the Defra data protection manager at data.protection@defra.gov.uk or at the above address.

The Data Protection Officer for Defra is responsible for checking that Defra complies with legislation. You can contact them at DefraGroupDataProtectionOfficer@defra.gov.uk or at the above address.

What personal data we collect and how it is used ​

We collect your:

  • Name
  • Contact details
  • Organisation details and job role

We use this data:

  • If the processing of a dispersion modelling assessment is taking some time to complete. Users are offered the option to enter an email address, to allow the user to exit the service and have an email sent to them once their modelling results are complete, together with a link to download the modelling report.
  • To authenticate users through the GOV.UK One Login service, when accessing the 'In-combination archive'. Once a GOV.UK One Login account has been created, first time users of the 'In-combination archive' will be asked to enter additional data, over and above the email address captured by the GOV.UK One Login system. This will consist of first and last name, regulatory body (selected from a dropdown), job role and phone number. This data will be used to contact the individual and confirm their professional status, prior to determining their appropriate roles and approving their access.
  • To collect and hold contact details for system users who reach out for help and advice or report a problem with the service. The 'Get an air pollution assessment' service operational team will manage these details. The users contact data will only be captured if the user requests a response to their request.
  • To understands overall service usage and inform decision making around new feature developments, using Google Analytics. If consent is given by the user, Google Analytics will create a cookie on the user’s computer.

How your personal data has been obtained, if from a third party ​

From freely available public information the 'Get an air pollution assessment' service operational team obtain organisational contact details for all UK regulators and planning authorities who will require access to the 'In-combination' archive. This data, together with the data entered by the user, will be used to contact the appropriate regulatory body to verify that the user’s identity and job role.

Lawful basis for processing your personal data ​

The lawful basis for processing your personal data is: Public Task

Defra is the Data Controller, and the personal data is captured under public task relating to the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.

Defra to rely on performance of a task carried out in the public interest (governmental function) rather than an explicit piece of legislation (see GDPR Recital 45).

Google Analytics are applied with user consent. Users will be able to control their consent with a cookie management tool that will pop up on first entry to the service and be accessible throughout from the "C" icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Who we share your personal data with ​

We will share the personal data collected under this privacy notice with:

  • Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) as the operational team managing the day to day running of the service.
  • The Government Digital service (GDS) .GOV Notify service used to send notification and maintenance emails.
  • The software support and development team, Ricardo (comprising of Air Quality Consultants - AQC, CERC, Glade and Sky and Wing EMC) as they have access to the live cloud hosting infrastructure.
  • Defra Cloud Centre of Excellence team (CCoE) who will also have access to the personal data within the live cloud hosting infrastructure.
  • Cabinet Office - through the GOV.UK One Login service will collect how many times users log in to our service. The data captured through the GOV.UK One Login system is covered by their privacy statement which can be seen here
  • Atlassian – through the supply of their Jira task management and ticketing system – will have the ability to access the data entered into the tickets within the account.
  • Google analytics - which will create a cookie on a user’s computer and activity related to this cookie will be stored in the Defra Google analytics account and therefore accessible by google. Within Google Analytics we cannot uniquely identify a user.

We respect 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 we hold personal data ​

The following:

  • email addresses captured to inform a user when their calculations are complete, will only be held in the system until passed to .GOV Notify for the email notification to be sent, and then the email address will be deleted.
  • data passed to the .GOV Notify service will be retained by GOV.UK for up to 90 days so they can subsequently respond to their users' queries about messages they were sent in the past.
  • data captured by the service about authenticated users of the "In-Combination" Archive (post registration GOV.UK One Login), will be kept in line with the duration of the project, as we need to maintain an accurate audit log of the actions of our users in fulfilling their regulatory duty.
  • users who request a reply to their enquiry for help will be anonymised from our task management and ticketing system after 6 months of their request being replied to, but their original enquiry and answer we gave will remain in the ticket.
  • data collected on regulators will be stored as long as required for the operation of the service.
  • data held in Google analytics will be retained for 14 months.

What happens if you do not provide the personal data ​

The Calculator component of the 'Get an air pollution assessment' service is open access and does not require users to register/or login, so there will be no restriction of access if no personal data is provided.

If you do not provide the personal data:

  • Within the Calculator, you will not be able to leave the service and receive email notifications when your calculations are completed (as they can take some time) and you will have to remain in the Calculator until the calculations are completed.
  • You will not be able to register with GOV.UK One Login and create a personal account. You will then also not be able to request access to the 'In-combination archive', to conduct your regulatory duty.

Use of automated decision-making or profiling ​

The personal data 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 your personal data outside of the UK ​

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

Your rights ​

Based on the lawful processing above, your individual rights are:

  • The right to be informed
  • The right of access
  • The right to rectification
  • The right to restrict processing
  • The right to object
  • Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

More information about your individual rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), can be found here.

Complaints ​

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

Personal Information Charter ​

Our Personal Information Charter explains more about your rights over your personal data.

Version ​

Last updated: 02/04/2026