New Plymouth District Council (NPDC), take our privacy obligations seriously, including the personal information we collect about you on this website.

The personal information we collected on this website is held and protected in accordance with our Privacy Policy, and the Privacy Act 2020.For details how we, NPDC, collects and protects your personal information, please refer to our Privacy Statement. It is also available on NPDC’s website under Terms and Conditions.

This site is owned and operated by New Plymouth District Council using software licensed from Social Pinpoint. For details of how Social Pinpoint may access personal information, please refer to Social Pinpoint’s Privacy Policy.

What personal information we collect

Profile

If you register as a member <hyperlink to information about this> for this Have Your Say website or sign in to an existing account, the personal information we collect includes your email address and additional demographic information as provided by you when you registered.

Please note, you can still browse any publicly available information on this site without registering.

Engagement

The information provided when you interact with this website including:

• Online forums

• interactive maps

• surveys

• quick polls

• formal submission processes

Website information

We collect information about how you use this site such as pages visited, documents loaded, etc. This information is aggregated, and all users are anonymous and not personally identifiable. It will be used to analyse and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, and better understand online activity.

How we use it

The information we collect is analysed and used to inform Council’s decision makers in the creation of better projects, plans and policies.

Why do we request personal information?

• to enable us to respond to you (if necessary)
• so, we can let you know about any future events on any specific topics that you request.
• to provide us with the demographic information to determine the extent to which the feedback collected is representative of the community.
• to allow us to gather participation data (such as numbers interacting from specified areas) with specific topics to better inform our feedback to Council.
• to understand the reach and representation achieved and address any gaps to ensure diverse representational engagement across the NPDC community.
• to ensure that any one participant or spammers and trolls are not unduly influencing the feedback results.

Email notifications

If you subscribe to receive notifications about upcoming projects or other engagement activities, the email address you provided will be used by us to send you that information. You can unsubscribe from these notifications at any time.

Sharing your personal information

Access to your personal information is confined to authorised users only, which includes employees of NPDC on a need-to-know basis, our website administrators, and Social Pinpoint.

NPDC respects the privacy of your information and will take all reasonable measures to prevent unauthorised access to, or unlawful disclosure of, your personal information.

Third Parties

We may also disclose personal information to third parties, and you consent to us disclosing your personal information, for the following purposes:

The following Email Direct Marketing is used in conjunction with New Plymouth District Council to assist with communicating, reviewing, interpreting, and gaining insights into feedback submitted via Have Your Say NPDC:

• Campaign Monitor Australia 1 Pty Limited ABN 45604705473

Publicly available information

When you sign up to and use Have Your Say NPDC, some of the information you provide will be publicly available.

Information that is available to the public is limited to your username and any comments you leave under that username in the forums or other feedback tools published to Have Your Say NPDC. As above, you can use an anonymous username if you do not want your full name attached to your comments.

Feedback (including overall results of formal submissions, polls, and surveys, and in some instances, quotes from forums and surveys with the username referenced) may be published in publicly available reports at the end of the consultation period.

You may use Have Your Say NPDC to make submissions to NPDC pursuant to the Local Government Act 2002. By taking part in the public submission process, all submissions (including your name, address and contact details) are provided to Council officers and elected members for the purpose of analysing feedback.

Your personal information will also be used for the administration of the engagement and decision-making process. Submissions (with individuals names only) may be available online. If requested, submitter details may be released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

If there are good reasons why your details and/or submission should be kept confidential, please contact our Privacy Officer.

How long do we hold personal information?

The length of time we keep your personal information depends on what it is and whether we have an ongoing need to retain it. We may retain all personal information that we collect (on both our active systems and our archives systems) for as long as administratively necessary, in accordance with NPDC’s information retention and disposal authority.

The Public Records Act 2005 (Public Records Act) requires us to keep “protected records” indefinitely. In some circumstances, your personal information may be included within a protected record, including submissions you make in relation to bylaws, annual plans, and district or regional planning instruments.

Storage of personal information

Information collected through Have Your Say NPDC will be held by Social Pinpoint in accordance with its privacy policy. Social Pinpoint is an offshore service provider based in Australia so personal information collected will be stored in their server located in Sydney, Australia. The information will also be downloaded on NPDC servers with privacy protections in place. We comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act in relation to the transfer of personal information offshore.

Access and Correction of Personal Information

We will provide you with access to your personal information unless we are required or authorised to refuse such access by law.

If you would like to access, update, correct, or delete the personal information that the NPDC is holding about you, you are welcome to make these requests by email Please quote your name and address and, if possible, provide brief details of what information you want a copy of (this helps us to locate more readily your information).

When you are a registered user, you will have the ability to correct your personal information at your discretion through the ‘edit profile’ function. You may also choose to contact us to request a change or correction of your personal information. We will take all necessary steps to accommodate your request unless we are required or authorised to refuse that request by law.

Links to external websites

Have Your Say NPDC may contain links to other websites. Those links are provided for convenience only and may not be current or be maintained. NPDC is not responsible for the content, accuracy or privacy practices associated with the linked websites.

Any links to other websites should not be construed as any endorsement, approval, recommendation, or preference by NPDC of the owners or operators of those websites, or of any information, graphics, materials, products, or services referred to on those websites.

Changes to this privacy statement

We reserve the right to amend this privacy statement from time to time by posting an updated privacy statement here on this website. We will collect, use, hold and disclose your personal information in accordance with our most recently updated version of the privacy statement. We recommend that you regularly review this privacy statement when you visit this website.

If you do not agree with any aspect of the updated privacy policy, you must promptly notify us using the contact details set out below.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions, queries, or complaints about the handling of your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer in the first instance using the contact details set out below and we will do our best to assist.

email: enquiries@npdc.govt.nz

Or

post:

NPDC Privacy Officer
Private Bag 2025, 84 Liardet Street,
New Plymouth 4340,
Aotearoa New Zealand

Phone: 06 759 6060

If you’re not satisfied with how we’ve handled your request, you have the right to make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner

You can make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner. Go to privacy.org.nz for details,
phone 0800 803 909 or write to Office of the Privacy Commissioner PO Box 10094 Wellington, 6143

The following Terms and Conditions (“the Terms”) govern the use of Have Your Say New Plymouth District Council (“the site”). The software platform is owned by Social Pinpoint Pty Ltd and operated by us, New Plymouth District Council.

By accessing and using this site, you are choosing to accept and comply with the terms presented throughout this agreement as well as the Privacy Policy and Moderation Policy. These terms apply to all visitors and users of this site. Linked sites, affiliated services or third-party content or software have their own Terms that you must comply with. If you disagree with any of the Terms presented in this agreement, you may discontinue using the site immediately.

If you are under 18 years old, please ensure that your parent or guardian understands and accepts these Terms and Conditions (including the Privacy Policy and Moderation Policy).

What are the conditions with a user’s account?

While using the site, you must not violate any applicable laws and regulations. It is our duty to protect the confidentiality of content you provide on our site in accordance with our Privacy Policy. When you create an account with us, you must always provide us with accurate information. Failure to provide accurate information violates the Terms, which may result in immediate termination of your account on our service. You are responsible for protecting your own password you use for this site and for any activities done under that password. Unauthorised use of your password or account must be immediately reported to us. In some cases, we or our agents may require access to your user accounts to respond to technical issues.

We are not responsible for the content on the site that has been provided by the users of the site. Any content posted by you is subject to the rules of our Moderation Policy. Your contribution to the site may be edited, removed, or not published if we consider it inappropriate (refer to Moderation Policy). Contributors should also be aware that their posts may remain online indefinitely. Where practical, you may choose not to identify yourself, deal with us on an anonymous basis or use a pseudonym.

What do we require from our users?

You must understand and agree that, without limitation:

• all information, data, images and other materials are the sole responsibility of the person from whom the content originated;

• you are prohibited from advertising or offering to sell or buy any goods and services

• you cannot transmit Content that contains software viruses or programs designed to change or destroy the functionality of any computer software or hardware; or

• you cannot collect or store personal data about other users of the site.

• you cannot impersonate any person or entity, including without limitation to a New Plymouth District Council Regional Council representative.

• you cannot interrupt or interfere with the site or servers or networks connected to the site.

• you cannot attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site or other use accounts.

Can your account be suspended or terminated?

We may terminate or suspend access to your site and/or account immediately, without prior notice, including without limitation if you breach the Terms. We may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all the related files and information in your account. After your account has been terminated, the content you have posted may also remain indefinitely on the site.

If you want to terminate your own account, please send an email to enquiries@npdc.govt.nz

Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed in accordance with the laws of New Zealand without regards to its conflict of law provisions.

Indemnification

New Plymouth District Council, its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, licensors and other partners are not responsible for any loss, liability, claim, or demand, including legal fees, made by any third party due to or arising from a breach of this agreement and/or any breach of your representations and warranties set forth above.

What content do we own?

This website contains the copyrighted material, trademarks, patents, trade secrets and other proprietary information (“Intellectual Property”) of New Plymouth District Council and its suppliers and licensors. New Plymouth District Council owns and retains all proprietary rights in the intellectual property. All intellectual property in the content of this site including without limitation to text, software, source code, pages, documents and online graphics, photographs, sounds, audio, video, and other interactive features are owned by or licensed to us.

Any original content that you submit or post on our site may be made available to the public and allows users to share your content (with the end user acknowledging your contribution) under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Australian License.

Except for Intellectual Property which is in the public domain or for which you have been given written permission, you may not copy, alter, transmit, sell, distribute any of the Intellectual Property on this site.

We are not responsible for your communications or dealings, including payment and delivery of goods or services, with a third party found via our website. Any loss or damage incurred from those communications or dealings are solely between the user and the third party.

Disclaimer and Warranties

Users must agree that you use of the site is at your own risk. We make no warranty that the site will meet your requirements or be uninterrupted or error-free. Any material that the user downloads through the site is done at their own risk and are responsible for any damages to their computer system or loss of data.

What happens if these Terms change?

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time without notice. The most recent version of the Terms can be seen on this page. By continuing to access or use our site after those revisions become effective, you agree and will comply to the revised terms. If you do not agree to the revised terms, please discontinue using our site.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at enquiries@npdc.govt.nz