Contents

Privacy Policy

WHAT IS THIS PRIVACY POLICY FOR?

This privacy policy governs the privacy of users who choose to use the Planning Geek website and services. In this document, “we”, “our”, or “us” refer to Planning Geek Ltd.

INTRODUCTION

This is a notice to inform you of our policy regarding all information that we record about you. It sets out the conditions under which we may process any information that we collect from you, or that you provide to us. It covers information that could identify you (“personal information”) and information that could not. In the context of the law and this notice, “process” means collect, store, transfer, use or otherwise act on information.
We regret that if there are one or more points below with which you are not happy, your only recourse is to leave our website immediately.
We take seriously the protection of your privacy and confidentiality. We understand that all visitors to our website are entitled to know that their personal data will not be used for any purpose unintended by them, and will not accidentally fall into the hands of a third party.
We undertake to preserve the confidentiality of all information you provide to us, and hope that you reciprocate.
Our policy complies with UK law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

THE BASES ON WHICH WE PROCESS INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

1. INFORMATION WE PROCESS BECAUSE WE HAVE A CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION WITH YOU

When you create an account on our website, buy a product or service from us, or otherwise agree to our terms and conditions, a contract is formed between you and us. In order to carry out our obligations under that contract, we must process the information you give us. Some of this information may be personal information.

We may use it in order to:

verify your identity for security purposes
sell products or consultancy services to you
provide you with our services, including planning appraisals and applications
provide you with suggestions and advice on how to obtain the most from using our services

We process this information on the basis there is a contract between us, or that you have requested we use the information before we enter into a legal contract. We shall continue to process this information until the contract between us ends or is terminated under the terms of the contract.

2. INFORMATION WE PROCESS WITH YOUR CONSENT

Through certain actions when otherwise there is no contractual relationship between us, such as when you browse our website or ask us to provide you with more information about our business, you provide your consent to us to process information that may be personal information.

Wherever possible, we aim to obtain your explicit consent to process this information, for example, by asking you to agree to our use of cookies. We continue to process your information on this basis until you withdraw your consent or it can be reasonably assumed that your consent no longer exists. You may withdraw your consent at any time by instructing us at our designated contact email.

3. INFORMATION WE PROCESS BECAUSE WE HAVE A LEGAL OBLIGATION

We are subject to the law like everyone else. Sometimes, we must process your information in order to comply with a statutory obligation. For example, we may be required to give information to legal authorities if they so request or if they have the proper authorisation such as a search warrant or court order.

SPECIFIC USES OF INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE TO US

4. SHARING DATA WITH LOCAL PLANNING AUTHORITIES (LPAs)

Due to the nature of our business, to fulfil our contractual obligations to you regarding planning applications, appeals, or certificates of lawfulness, we must share your personal data (including your name, home address, site address, and relevant site plans or architectural drawings) with Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) and, where applicable, the Planning Inspectorate.

Please note: Once a planning application is submitted to an LPA, your name and the site address will inevitably enter the public domain via the LPA’s online planning portal as part of the statutory public consultation process.

5. SHARING DATA WITH THIRD-PARTY CONSULTANTS

To progress your project efficiently, we may share your personal data with trusted third-party subcontractors and experts (such as architectural designers, ecologists, arboriculturalists, or highways consultants). Data is shared solely for the purpose of advancing your specific project, and these third parties are bound by strict confidentiality agreements.

6. INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IT WILL BE SHARED PUBLICLY

If you post information on our website (such as leaving a comment on an article), it is with a view to that information being read, copied, downloaded, or used by other people. We do not specifically use this information except to allow it to be displayed. Provided your request is reasonable and there is no legal basis for us to retain it, we may agree to your request to delete personal information that you have posted publicly.

7. COMPLAINTS REGARDING CONTENT ON OUR WEBSITE

If you complain about any of the content on our website, we shall investigate your complaint. If we feel it is justified or if we believe the law requires us to do so, we shall remove the content while we investigate.

8. INFORMATION RELATING TO YOUR METHOD OF PAYMENT

Payment information is never taken by us or transferred to us either through our website or otherwise. At the point of payment, you are transferred to a secure page on the website of Stripe, PayPal, or another reputable payment service provider.

9. SENDING A MESSAGE TO PLANNING GEEK

When you contact us, whether by telephone, through our website or by email, we collect the data you have given to us in order to reply with the information you need. We keep personally identifiable information associated with your message to track our communications with you and provide a high-quality service.

USE OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT THROUGH AUTOMATED SYSTEMS

10. COOKIES AND PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS FROM YOUR BROWSING ACTIVITY

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer’s hard drive by your web browser when you visit any website. They allow information gathered on one web page to be stored until it is needed for use on another, allowing a website to provide you with a personalised experience.

Requests by your web browser to our servers for web pages and other content on our website are recorded. We record information such as your geographical location, your Internet service provider, and your IP address. We use this information in aggregate to assess the popularity of the webpages on our website and how we perform in providing content to you.

11. OUR USE OF RE-MARKETING

Re-marketing involves placing a cookie on your computer when you browse our website in order to be able to serve to you an advert for our products or services when you visit some other website. We may use a third party to provide us with re-marketing services from time to time.

DISCLOSURE AND SHARING OF YOUR INFORMATION

12. DATA PROCESSING AND INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

Our website servers are hosted in Amsterdam, Netherlands. As the Netherlands is within the European Economic Area (EEA), it is covered by an adequacy decision from the UK government. This ensures that any personal data stored on these servers receives an equivalent level of protection to that mandated by the UK GDPR.

13. THIRD PARTY ADVERTISING ON OUR WEBSITE

Third parties may advertise on our website. In doing so, those parties, their agents or other companies working for them may use technology that automatically collects information about you when their advertisement is displayed. We do not have control over these technologies.

ACCESS TO YOUR OWN INFORMATION AND OTHER MATTERS

14. ACCESS TO AND REMOVAL OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

At any time you may review or update personally identifiable information that we hold about you. To obtain a copy of any information that is not provided on our website, you should contact us to make that request. If you wish us to remove personally identifiable information from our website, you should contact us.

15. RETENTION PERIOD FOR PERSONAL DATA

Except as otherwise mentioned in this privacy notice, we keep your personal information only for as long as required by us:

to provide you with the services you have requested;
to comply with other law, including for the period demanded by our tax authorities;
to support a claim or defence in court.

Specific Retention: Client project files, including architectural drawings, planning decisions, and financial invoices, are retained for a minimum of 6 years following the completion of the project to comply with HMRC requirements and our professional indemnity insurance terms.

16. AUTOMATED DECISION-MAKING AND PROFILING

We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making or profiling.

17. COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW

Our privacy policy has been compiled so as to comply with the law of every country or legal jurisdiction in which we aim to do business. If you think it fails to satisfy the law of your jurisdiction, we should like to hear from you.

18. REVIEW OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this privacy notice from time to time as necessary. The terms that apply to you are those posted here on our website on the day you use our website.