1. Please advise the process and policy you have regarding the destroying of petitions that have been handed in to DCC.
The Thornpark Rise petition was held by the Transport Planning team in order to ensure that a response was drafted and provided. A copy of the petition cannot be found and it is assumed that the physical copy of the petition has been destroyed, in line with the Transport Planning team approach to GDPR and retention of personal data (Privacy notice for transport planning – Devon County Council). The Transport Planning team had an office move in Autumn 2022 and during this period reviewed the amount of paper documents that were retained. Sensitive material stored by staff that was no longer needed was either put into confidential waste bags or into confidential waste bins in Devon County Council offices, with the contents then destroyed.
2..if an outside contractor is used for this purpose who is it?
South West Norse services are responsible for Devon County Council’s cleaning and catering services and a porter request through SW Norse for all confidential bags or boxes to be collected for onward disposal.
3. Please advise the date the Thornpark Rise LTN petition, handed in to HATOC in October 2021, was destroyed. Who in DCC holds information regarding such policy destruction (post title of said person please)
As per the answer to Question 1, we do not have a specific date for when the Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) petition was destroyed.
4..What is the retention policy for petitions, how long are they kept before they are destroyed?
Petitions held by the Democratic Services team would be retained under the retention policy: democracy – Keeping Devon’s Data
5. If the LTN petition handed in to full council in April this year has not yet been destroyed please can it be returned to the group who handed it in. I have the contact if DCC has lost that information.
The latest petition regarding the LTN is held by Democratic Services. The organiser of the petition can request to have it sent back to them, or arrange to collect the document from County Hall.