Privacy Policy

Updated October 2026

Greenham Parish Council protects your personal privacy. This notice outlines how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. 

1. Understanding Personal Data

Personal data is any information that identifies a living individual.

Common Data We Collect

  • Identifiers: Names, titles, aliases, and photographs.

  • Contact Details: Phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.

  • Demographics: Age, gender, marital status, and family composition (when relevant to services).

  • Financial:  Bank details, payment history

  • History: Education, employment history, and professional qualifications (for job applications).

  • Website & Digital Identifiers: IP addresses, cookie data

We need to maintain contractor details, financial records and agreements.

For website security, to optimise performance and to analyse generic visitor traffic you have the option to accept cookies on our website.

We may gather survey data for a specific project. We will hold the data while we run the survey and assess the data. Once the data has been assessed generically and a report created, the original data set / survey will be deleted.

2. Knowing Your Data Controller

Greenham Parish Council acts as your Data Controller, the Clerk as the Data Protection Lead. This means we decide how and why your data is processed.

If you ask us to assist you, we may need to contact another organisation and will gain your consent to share information.

3. Establishing Our Legal Basis

We must have a valid legal reason to process your information. We rely on the following legal grounds under the UK GDPR:

[Public Task]  📊 ---> Executing statutory duties and powers as a local authority.

[Legal Obligation] ⚖️ ---> Fulfilling mandatory requirements (e.g., HMRC tax records).

[Contract]     📜 ---> Managing agreements (e.g., allotment tenancies, sports bookings).

[Consent]      ✅ ---> Sending optional newsletters or marketing you explicitly requested.

4. Sharing Your Information

We never sell your data. We only share it with trusted third parties to deliver parish services:

  • Public Partners: Other local authorities (e.g., West Berkshire Council) or non-profit groups collaborating on joint community events. If you ask for our assistance with an outside issue, we will gain your explicit consent before transferring your query. 

  • Service Providers: Suppliers, contractors, or agents managing our software, IT systems, or newsletters.

  • International Transfers: Some of our secure IT and cloud providers may host data outside the UK (such as the US). We ensure these transfers are fully protected by UK-approved International Data Transfer Agreements (IDTAs) or adequacy regulations. 

5. Retaining Your Data

We only keep your information for as long as legally required or operationally necessary:

Data Type

  • Retention Period

  • Legal / Practical Reason

Financial Records

Contract Claims Data

  • 6 Years

  • Defending or pursuing future breach of contract claims.

Personal Injury Data

  • 3 Years

  • Managing potential legal or insurance claims.

Permanent Archives

  • Indefinitely

  • Preserving historical public council minutes and records.

6. Exercising Your Legal Rights

You hold specific rights over your personal data under UK law. To protect your security, we will verify your identity before processing any request.

  • Right of Access: Request a copy of the data we hold. We will reply within one month.

  • Right to Rectification: Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.

  • Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): Request data deletion when it is no longer legally required.

  • Right to Restrict Processing: Limit how we use your data during ongoing disputes.

  • Right to Object: Challenge data processing based on our "Public Task" justification.

  • Right to Data Portability: Request a digital transfer of data you provided to us under "Consent" or "Contract". 

  • Right to Withdraw Consent: Cancel your permission at any time for consent-based activities.

7. Contacting Us or Making a Complaint

If you want to exercise your rights, update your preferences, or ask a data management question, please contact our Data Protection Lead:

  • Email: clerk@greenham.gov.uk

  • Postal Address: Liberty House, The Enterprise Centre, Greenham Business Park, Thatcham, RG19 6HS

If you believe we handled your data unlawfully, you have the right to lodge a formal complaint with the UK independent data regulator, the Information Commission (ICO). https://ico.org.uk/ 

8. Review 

This policy will be reviewed annually, or sooner if there are changes in legislation or guidance, or if experience suggests that amendments are needed.