Privacy Policy

Last updated: 19 September 2026

1. Who We Are

Burgess Hill is a community-run website for reporting local issues in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK. It is not affiliated with Mid Sussex District Council or any government body.

Contact: admin@restoreburgesshill.co.uk

2. What Data We Collect

We may collect the following personal data:

  • Account data: name, email address, hashed password (if registering by email)
  • Google profile data: name, email and Google ID (if signing in with Google)
  • Issue report data: title, description, category, location (address and map coordinates), severity, and uploaded photos
  • Comments: text you post on issue pages
  • Technical data: IP address, browser type, pages visited, collected via server logs

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process your data under the following legal bases (UK GDPR):

  • Consent — you actively agree when submitting a report or creating an account
  • Legitimate interest — to operate and improve the service, and to prevent abuse

4. How We Use Your Data

  • To create and manage your account
  • To process and display reported issues
  • To send email notifications about status changes (if you provided an email)
  • To prevent spam, abuse and fraudulent activity
  • To produce anonymous statistics about reported issues

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. We may share data with:

  • Ionos (1&1) — our hosting provider, who stores data on servers in the UK/EU
  • Google — if you use Google Sign-In, subject to Google's Privacy Policy
  • Law enforcement — if legally required

6. Data Retention

  • Account data is retained while your account is active. You can request deletion at any time.
  • Issue reports are retained indefinitely as a public record. You can request removal of your personal details from a report.
  • Server logs are retained for up to 90 days.

7. Your Rights (UK GDPR)

You have the right to:

  • Access — request a copy of your personal data
  • Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate data
  • Erasure — ask us to delete your data ("right to be forgotten")
  • Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your data
  • Portability — receive your data in a common format
  • Object — object to processing based on legitimate interest

To exercise any right, email admin@restoreburgesshill.co.uk. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Cookies

We use essential cookies only. See our Cookie Policy for details.

9. Security

We protect your data with HTTPS encryption, hashed passwords, and secure session management. However, no system is 100% secure and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Children

This service is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.

11. Changes

We may update this policy. Changes will be posted on this page with the updated date.

12. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).