Privacy Policy

  1. Your personal data – what is it?
    Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”).

  2. Who are we?
    Downton Parish Council (the Council) is the data controller. This means it decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes.

  3. How do we process your personal data?
    The Council complies with its obligations under the “GDPR” by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure, and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data. We may collect the following information from time to time:

    • your name
    • contact information, including address, telephone numbers and email addresses
    • other information relevant to Council services

  4. What we do with data we gather?
    We may require this information to understand your needs better and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

    • to respond to enquiries you make
    • internal record keeping
    • improvements to our services

  5. What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?
    • Explicit consent of the data subject so that we can keep you informed about news, events, activities, and services.
    • Processing is necessary for carrying out legal obligations in relation to Gift Aid or under employment, social security or social protection law, or a collective agreement.
    • Processing is carried out by a not-for-profit body with a political, philosophical, religious or trade union aim provided:
      • the processing relates only to members or former members (or those who have regular contact with it in connection with those purposes); and
      • there is no disclosure to a third party without consent.

  6. Sharing your personal data
    Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared with other members of the Council in order to carry out a service to other parish council members or for purposes connected with the Council. We will only share your data with third parties outside of the Council with your consent.

  7. How long do we keep your personal data?
    We will keep some records permanently if we are legally required to do so. We may keep some other records for an extended period of time. For example, it is currently best practice to keep financial records for a minimum period of 8 years to support HMRC audits or provide tax information.
    We may have legal obligations to retain some data in connection with our statutory obligations as a public authority.
    The Council is permitted to retain data in order to defend or pursue claims. In some cases, the law imposes a time limit for such claims (for example 3 years for personal injury claims or 6 years for contract claims). We will retain some personal data for this purpose as long as we believe it is necessary to be able to defend or pursue a claim.
    In general, we will endeavour to keep data only for as long as we need it. This means that we will delete it when it is no longer needed.

  8. Your rights and your personal data
    Unless subject to an exemption under GDPR, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data:
    [When exercising any of the rights listed below, in order to process your request, we may need to verify your identity for your security. In such cases we will need you to respond with proof of your identity before you can exercise these rights].

    The right to access personal data we hold on you
    At any point you can contact us to request the personal data we hold on you as well as why we have that personal data, who has access to the personal data and where we obtained the personal data from. Once we have received your request we will respond within one month. There are no fees or charges for the first request but additional requests for the same personal data or requests which are manifestly unfounded or excessive may be subject to an administrative fee.

    The right to correct and update the personal data we hold on you
    If the data we hold on you is out of date, incomplete or incorrect, you can inform us and your data will be updated.

    The right to have your personal data erased
    If you feel that we should no longer be using your personal data or that we are unlawfully using your personal data, you can request that we erase the personal data we hold. When we receive your request, we will confirm whether the personal data has been deleted or the reason why it cannot be deleted (for example because we need it for to comply with a legal obligation).

    The right to object to processing of your personal data or to restrict it to certain purposes only
    You have the right to request that we stop processing your personal data or ask us to restrict processing. Upon receiving the request, we will contact you and let you know if we are able to comply or if we have a legal obligation to continue to process your data.

    The right to data portability
    You have the right to request that we transfer some of your data to another controller. We will comply with your request, where it is feasible to do so, within one month of receiving your request.

    The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time for any processing of data to which consent was obtained
    You can withdraw your consent easily by email (see Contact Details below).

    The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
    You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

  9. Further processing
    If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Data Protection Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.

  10. Changes to this Data Privacy Policy
    This Privacy Policy is effective as from 1 May 2019 and will remain in effect except with respect to any changes to its provisions in the future, which will be in effect immediately after being posted to the website. We reserve the right to update or change our Privacy Policy at any time and you should check this policy periodically. Your continued use of the service after we post any modifications to this policy will constitute your acknowledgement of the modifications and your consent to abide and be bound by the modified Data Privacy Policy.

Contact Details
To exercise all relevant rights, queries, or complaints please in the first instance contact the Clerk by email clerk@downtonparishcouncil.gov.uk