Last updated: April 2026
Who we are
This website is operated by Retrospective Planning Experts (RPE), a trading name of a Chartered Town Planning practice providing professional planning services across the UK. For the purposes of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, RPE is the Data Controller for any personal data you provide through this site or in the course of engaging our services.
Contact:
Email: info@rpexperts.co.uk
Phone: 01172 565 075
Postal: 1 Victoria Street, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6AA
What data we collect
- Enquiry data — name, email, phone number, postal address of the property, and a description of the planning matter, submitted through the contact form or by email/phone.
- Client data — identification, site address, ownership information, photographs, drawings, and any other material needed to prepare a planning application.
- Website analytics — anonymised usage data (pages visited, approximate location, device type, referring site) collected via Google Analytics through Google Tag Manager.
- Correspondence — emails and written correspondence exchanged during an engagement.
Why we use your data and the legal basis
- To respond to your enquiry — legal basis: consent (Article 6(1)(a) UK GDPR) and/or legitimate interest in responding to requests for our services.
- To provide the services you have instructed us to deliver — legal basis: performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)).
- To meet our professional and regulatory obligations — including the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Code of Professional Conduct, anti-money-laundering checks where applicable, HMRC record-keeping, and professional indemnity insurance requirements. Legal basis: legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)) and legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f)).
- To improve the website — anonymised analytics only, where you have consented.
Who we share data with
We do not sell your personal data. We only share it where strictly necessary, with:
- The relevant Local Planning Authority, as part of submitting a planning application on your behalf — this is the core of our service, and application details are generally published on the council's public planning register.
- Professional subcontractors we engage to help deliver your project (such as architectural technicians or specialist consultants), subject to written confidentiality.
- Our hosting and infrastructure providers (for this website: Netlify; for email: Google Workspace), which process data on our behalf under appropriate data-processing terms.
- Regulators, HMRC, insurers or legal advisers where required by law or professional obligation.
How long we keep your data
- Enquiries that do not lead to an engagement: up to 12 months, after which we delete them.
- Client files: 7 years from the date of the last substantive work, in line with HMRC record-keeping requirements and our professional indemnity insurance obligations.
- Website analytics: retained according to Google's default retention period (currently 14 months) and held in anonymised form.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Have inaccurate data corrected.
- Ask us to delete your data where we no longer have a lawful basis to hold it.
- Restrict or object to processing in certain circumstances.
- Withdraw consent at any time, where consent is the legal basis for processing.
- Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
To exercise any of these rights, email info@rpexperts.co.uk. We will respond within one month.
Cookies and analytics
This website uses Google Analytics, loaded via Google Tag Manager, to understand how visitors use the site so we can improve it. Analytics cookies are set in an anonymised form and are not used to identify you personally. You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings at any time without affecting the functionality of the site.
Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse and unauthorised access — including encrypted email, access controls, and secure cloud storage. No system is perfectly secure, but if a breach affects your data we will notify you and the ICO in line with UK GDPR requirements.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top of the page reflects the current version. If we make a material change we will highlight it on the site.