Privacy Policy

Chelmsford City Hub ("we", "us", "our") operates the website at chelmsfordcityhub.co.uk. We are an independent community news and events platform serving Chelmsford, Essex and the surrounding area.

We take your privacy seriously. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect when you visit our website, why we collect it, how we use it, and the rights you have in relation to it. It is written in plain English to make it as easy as possible to understand.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, please get in touch.

We collect only the minimum data necessary to operate the website and respond to enquiries. The types of data we may collect are set out below.

We use the data we collect only for the following purposes:

• To respond to your contact form submission — your name and email address are used solely to reply to your message. We do not add you to any mailing list without your explicit consent.
• To review and list event submissions — if you submit an event, the details you provide are used to create an event listing on the website. Your personal contact information is not displayed publicly.
• To understand how the site is used — anonymised analytics data helps us understand which content is most useful, how visitors navigate the site, and where we can improve. This is only collected after you give your consent.
• To maintain site security — server logs may be retained for a short period to identify and investigate security incidents or technical problems.

We do not use your data for automated decision-making, profiling, or any form of targeted advertising.

Our lawful basis for processing your contact form data is legitimate interests (responding to a message you have sent to us). Our lawful basis for analytics data is consent, which you may withdraw at any time via the Cookie Settings link in the footer.

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work efficiently and to provide information to site owners. We use cookies for one purpose only: to power Google Analytics.

We do not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, social media cookies, or any other form of cookie beyond analytics.

You can also control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies, delete existing cookies, or be notified when a cookie is set. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of some websites, though it will not affect your use of this site.

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4), a web analytics service provided by Google LLC. GA4 helps us understand how visitors use our website — for example, which pages are most popular, how long visitors stay, and what devices and browsers they use. This information helps us improve the site for our readers.

When you accept cookies, Google Analytics places cookies on your device and sends anonymised usage data to Google's servers. We have configured Google Analytics with IP anonymisation enabled, which means your full IP address is never stored or processed — it is truncated before any data is saved.

What Google Analytics does NOT do on this site:

• It does not collect your name, email address or any directly identifying information
• It does not track your activity across other websites
• It does not serve adverts or build advertising profiles
• It does not share any data it receives from this site with any third party other than Google, and we do not share it with anyone

Google processes analytics data on our behalf as a data processor. Google's own privacy policy is available at policies.google.com/privacy. You can opt out of Google Analytics across all websites using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise share your personal data with any third parties for commercial purposes — ever.

The only circumstances in which data may be disclosed to a third party are:

• Google Analytics — anonymised, aggregated usage data is processed by Google on our behalf, as described in Section 5. This is the only third-party service we use.
• Legal obligations — if we are required by law, court order, or regulatory authority to disclose information, we will do so. We will inform you where legally permitted.
• Hosting infrastructure — our website is hosted on a web server. The hosting provider may have access to server logs (which include anonymised IP addresses) as part of normal server operations. They are bound by their own data processing agreements and do not use this data for any purpose other than providing hosting services.

Beyond the above, your data stays with us. We do not use any advertising networks, affiliate tracking, social media widgets that track you, or marketing automation platforms.

We keep your data only for as long as is necessary:

• Contact form submissions — retained in our email inbox for up to 12 months, then deleted. If your enquiry results in an ongoing relationship (for example, a recurring event listing), we may retain relevant information for as long as that relationship continues.
• Analytics data — Google Analytics retains event-level data for 14 months by default. Aggregated, anonymised reports may be retained indefinitely as they contain no personal information.
• Server logs — retained for up to 30 days for security and diagnostic purposes, then automatically deleted.
• Cookie consent preference — stored locally on your device indefinitely, or until you clear your browser data or change your preference via Cookie Settings.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access — you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification — you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure — you may ask us to delete your personal data where there is no compelling reason for us to continue holding it.
• Right to restrict processing — you may ask us to restrict how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability — where processing is based on your consent, you may request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to object — you may object to processing based on legitimate interests. We will comply unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue.
• Right to withdraw consent — where we rely on consent (i.e. for analytics cookies), you may withdraw it at any time via the Cookie Settings link in the footer. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@chelmsfordcityhub.co.uk. We will respond within one calendar month. We do not charge a fee for exercising your rights.

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your request, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection supervisory authority: ico.org.uk — Tel: 0303 123 1113.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. These include:

• HTTPS encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our server
• Password protection and access controls on all administrative systems
• Regular software updates and security patching
• Minimising the amount of personal data we hold

No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you suspect any misuse of your data, please contact us immediately.

Our website is not directed at children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has submitted personal data to us, please contact us at hello@chelmsfordcityhub.co.uk and we will delete it promptly.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our practices, or the services we offer. When we make changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.

We encourage you to review this page periodically. Your continued use of the website after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

If you have any questions, concerns or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us:

• Email: hello@chelmsfordcityhub.co.uk
• Website: chelmsfordcityhub.co.uk/contact

We aim to respond to all privacy-related enquiries within 5 working days, and will always respond within the legally required one calendar month.