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Forest of Dean Climate Collaboration Action (renamed ForestCollab) Privacy Notice

Who the Council is and what the Council does

 

Your privacy and protection of your personal information is very important to us and we are committed to robust compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

For the purposes of the UK GDPR, Forest of Dean District Council (FODDC) is a “controller” which means we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. You can find us in the Information Commissioner’s register of organisations who have paid the controller fee here.

This privacy notice explains what FODDC”, “we”, “us” or “our” does with your personal information, your rights and how we protect it. This notice applies to all individuals (“you” or “your”) involved in the Forest of Dean Climate Collaboration Action / ForestCollab initiative.

The Forest of Dean District Council is developing a collaborative community-led initiative called "ForestCollab" to reduce carbon emissions generated across the district. This initiative involves residents, businesses, and organizations across various sectors like health, education, and housing, aiming to drive collective action and knowledge sharing. This is achieved through our secure dedicated website with user registration and listing functionality.

Any questions regarding our privacy practice should be sent to:
Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Forest of Dean District Council
Council Offices
Coleford GL16 8HG
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01993 861194

Why we process your personal information

The Forest of Dean District Council has implemented a collaborative community-led initiative called "ForestCollab" to reduce carbon emissions generated across the district. This initiative involves residents, businesses, and organisations across various sectors like health, education, and housing, aiming to drive collective action and knowledge sharing. This is achieved through our dedicated through our secure dedicated website with user registration and listing functionality.

We will use your personal information for the administration of you and your company’s
involvement in the climate Projects and to keep in touch with you and to provide you with information about the Projects and the benefits available to you (and your employer where applicable).

The lawful basis for processing
(a) Consent - The data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes;
(b) Contract - processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
(c) Public Task - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;
(d) Legitimate Interest – The processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data.
What type of information is collected from you
As a participant, you may be involved in one or more of the Action initiatives. Depending on the
nature of activities of the initiative the following information for each participant (where
these are individuals) may be collected:

  • name and employment contact details, such as job title, address, telephone number and email address;
  • attendance and participation in the initiative and initiative activity;
  • photographs where you are participating in initiative activity.

We will also collect business details that is not personal information such as ownership details, registered company number, date of incorporation, name of employer and address, energy consumption and company turnover.

We will also use your information to provide statistics through the research undertaken as part of the initiative. This will be through anonymisation; you will not be able to withdraw consent with regard to participation in the initiative after this point.

Information shared internally and externally

Some or all of the personal information relating to participants will be shared with individual services and functions of FODDC.

We may share information you have provided with our data processor under a contractual agreement to assist with the delivery of the Forest of Dean Climate Collaboration Action/ForestCollab initiative.

We will not disclose any information to any other company outside of FODDC except to prevent fraud, or if required to do so by law.

Your personal information will not be shared for commercial or marketing purposes.

The Council will not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Anonymisation

Your personal information may be converted ('anonymised') into statistical or aggregated data in such a way that ensures that you cannot be identified from it. Anonymised data cannot, by definition,
Anonymised data is likely to form part of a research publication, conference presentation or public talk.

How long the Council keep your information (retention period)

The information you provide as part of your request will be retained in accordance with the Council Retention Policy schedules.

We will not store your personal information for longer than is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collected it. This may mean holding on to your personal information for a certain period of time after you have ceased to have a relationship with FODDC, such as for the purposes of satisfying any reporting requirements for the initiative programme.

Your information will be disposed of in a controlled and secure manner in accordance with the Council’s destruction Policy.

How the Council protects your information

All the information the Council collects is stored securely on our IT system and manual filing systems. The Council has strict procedures for the way this is done. Any and all information about you is treated as confidential and with respect. There are also clear rules and guidance about storing, recording and sharing information which staff receive training on.

The Council will not transfer your personal data outside the EU without your consent.

The Council has implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personal data from loss, misuse, or unauthorised alteration or destruction.

Please note however that where you are transmitting information to us over the internet this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

The Council will notify you promptly in the event of any breach of your personal data which might expose you to serious risk.

Your rights

You have rights under the Data Protection Legislations:

  • to access your personal data
  • to be provided with information about how your personal data is processed
  • to have your personal data corrected
  • to have your personal data erased in certain circumstances
  • to object to or restrict how your personal data is processed
  • to have your personal data transferred to yourself or to another business in certain circumstances
  • to be told if the Council has made a mistake whilst processing your data and the Council will self-report breaches to the Commissioner.


How you can access, update or correct your information

The Data Protection law gives you the right to apply for a copy of information about yourself. This is called a ‘Subject Access Request'.

If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Data Protection Officer. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records free of charge, within a month.

The accuracy of your information is important to us to be able to provide relevant services more quickly.

We are working to make our record keeping more efficient. In the meantime, if you change your address or email address, or if any of your circumstances change or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date please email us or write to us at:

Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Forest of Dean District Council
Council Offices
Coleford GL16 8HG
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01993 861194

Further information

If you would like to know more about how the Council uses your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described here, please tell us. Contact the Data Protection Officer at [email protected]

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner: https://ico.org.uk

The Council reserves the right to update this privacy notice from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.

© Forest of Dean District Council 2025