Privacy Policy

We need to collect personal information for a number of reasons, however this will only be necessary for a function or activity of the Council, including when we communicate with you and provide or offer services to you, verify your identity or other details, manage your account(s) and maintain our records.

This information may include your name, gender, date of birth, occupation, image, contact information, proof of identity, billing or purchase information and your communications and interactions with us (including communications via our website and email address), where relevant to responding to your requests for information or providing you with our services and/or use of our facilities.

Wherever possible your personal information will be collected from you, or anyone you authorise to provide us with your personal information.  We may collect personal information when you, or someone acting on your behalf, provides it to us directly.  For example, when you:

• communicate with us in person, by phone, letter or electronically through our website or app
• complete and submit forms or applications for consents, licenses, approvals, permits, funding, or other authorisations
• use, or register for, any of our services or facilities, such as our online services and apps, including libraries, hire of Council facilities, online payment services, newsletters, or service updates
• supply details to the electoral roll
• submit a written submission, request, or other feedback
• follow or post comments in response to our social media or other online communications
• apply for employment with us
• enter promotions that we run or facilitate
• appear in any images and audio from Closed Circuit Television or body cameras, as described below.

Please be aware this this is an indicative list of examples only. We may keep a record of any information you receive from us. We may monitor and record your phone calls with us for quality control or staff training purposes. If your call is to be monitored and recorded, we will let you know at the time of the call.

Your personal information will be held at our office (as listed on our website). It may also be held for us in the data centres, platforms and systems of our third-party service providers, some of which may be located outside of New Zealand.

We may collect personal information about you from other organisations, entities or persons such as our related organisations, including Council Controlled Organisations; and our suppliers, which include organisations such as Land Information New Zealand, QV, any other government departments, solicitors/conveyancers, New Zealand Police, credit reporting agencies and any other organisations, entities and persons where you have expressly authorised us to request and obtain your information from them, or you have authorised them to provide your information to us.

When you visit or return to one of our websites, we may use technology solutions, such as cookies, to provide you with better access to tailored information and services.  A cookie is a small data file that a website or app sends to your device, which may be stored for later retrieval by the website or app.  Some cookies we use last only for the duration of your website or app session and expire when you close your browser or exit the app.  Other cookies are used to remember you when you return.

We use Google Analytics to further understand how some of our services may be improved. Google Analytics relies on the use of cookies. For details on what information is collected via the use of cookies, and how it is stored and used, see Privacy Policy – Privacy & Terms – Google.

We may use non-personalised statistics to monitor site traffic, to analyse trends, to gather demographic information about those who use our services, to improve our services and to improve user experience. These anonymised and/or amalgamated statistics do not include personal information.

While we use cookies to improve your online experience, if you do not wish to allow cookies then you can choose to disable cookies (for all sites) from within your browser settings.

We may collect video footage through various means, including:

• Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) may be used in particular areas to monitor traffic movements, secure facilities such as service centres, libraries, parking facilities and recreation centres, and to monitor public places to help reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. Where possible, signage will advise when CCTV equipment is being used. Only authorised people will be able to watch the CCTV footage for the purposes mentioned above or to regularly check the system is working. We will not actively attempt to identify individuals from the CCTV footage unless a reported or suspected incident needs investigation.
• Council compliance staff may wear body cameras which are activated as required. This is to reduce abusive or threatening behaviour. Recordings of violent or threatening incidents will be forwarded to the New Zealand Police and the recordings are otherwise disposed of within 24 hours. We will not film or keep any other recorded activity.
• Public sessions of Council meetings are broadcast live online, and then made available on our website. Signage will clearly state the meeting is being filmed before you enter the meeting room. Elected members will mostly be filmed as they speak and debate at the meeting. However, the filming may include shots of the public in the background and anyone speaking in a public session.

The personal information we collect from you, or someone acting on your behalf, may be used for any of the following purposes:

• To provide you with services or facilities, including those you have requested, and those our related organisations provide to you.
• To confirm your identity. This is to ensure we provide you with appropriate and relevant services and information, and to avoid inappropriate release or use of your information.
• To process any consent, licence, approval, permit, or other authorisation for which you have applied.
• To process your application to use or register for any of our services or facilities, including our online services. To process payments received or made by the Council, and to provide you with the services or facilities for which you have applied or registered to use.
• To respond to your correspondence, requests, enquiries, feedback, or for customer care-related activities.
  *To update any information that we currently hold about, or in connection with, you in our existing records, database or systems.
• To assist us in analysing, and further developing and improving our products and services.
• To comply with relevant laws and regulations.
• For any specific purpose that we notify you of at the time when your personal information is collected.
• To provide you with information about our (or our related organisations) events, news, services, or facilities that we think may interest you.
• For general administrative and business purposes, and to carry out activities connected with the running of our business or operations such as personnel training, or testing and maintenance of computer and other systems.
• For any other purposes that you authorise.

Information will only be shared with your consent, or where there is a statutory requirement to share it (including to government agencies with statutory law enforcement responsibilities, and/or to your Internet service provider or network administrator).  Government agencies with statutory roles enabling them to request data from us include the Police, Inland Revenue and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

We may disclose personal information about you to:

• any person engaged by the Council to provide products or services to you on our behalf, where your personal information is necessary for the provision of those products or services
• our related organisations to assist with the functions and services they provide
• a third party, if we are required to do so under laws or regulations, or in the course of legal proceedings or other investigations. This may include sharing CCTV footage and footage from body cameras worn by compliance staff with the Police or other public sector agencies where criminal activity is reported or suspected. The Police may also access live feeds from certain CCTV cameras from time to time for law enforcement, investigation, and emergency response purposes
• any person we may notify you of at the time we collect your information, and any person to whom you authorise us to disclose your personal information.

Some information we hold about, or in relation to, you may be made available to the public, such as:

• Any submission you make in relation to bylaws, annual plans and long term plans, district or regional plans, or draft or proposed strategies and policies. Submissions may be made available in full (including the submitter’s name, email and postal address and phone number) on our website and at our main office.
• Information held on property files or our rating information database.
• Video footage of Council meetings that are intended for broadcast or to be otherwise available for public viewing.

We may retain personal information we collect (on both our active systems and our archives) for as long as administratively necessary, or required by law. This is in accordance with the Council’s information retention and disposal schedule or applicable statutory requirements.

The Public Records Act 2005 requires us to retain Archives New Zealand || List of protected records for local authorities 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.

If you do not provide all the personal information that we request, we may be unable to adequately respond to you, provide the services you have requested, process payments, or otherwise deal with any requests or enquiries you have submitted.  In some circumstances, you are legally obligated to provide information and the Council is fulfilling a statutory requirement.

We maintain all reasonable safeguards to keep your information safe and secure, and protected against loss, other misuse, and unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure.  We keep physical documents secure where there is a reason to take them outside our premises.  Electronically stored personal information is protected from external sources and regular backups of the data are undertaken.

We will also undertake reasonable measures to ensure personal information is accurate, current and relevant.  If you suspect any misuse or loss of, or unauthorised access to, your personal information, please let us know immediately.

You can ask us to confirm whether we hold any personal information about you, and you may request access to your personal information by emailing us at privacy@selwyn.govt.nz or via the Privacy Commissioner’s 'About Me' tool.

Once we have verified your identity, we will provide you with confirmation and access, unless we believe we need to withhold the information under the Privacy Act.  For example, we may need to refuse access if granting access would interfere with the privacy of others, or if it would result in a breach of confidentiality.

Your right to access and correct any personal information we hold is subject to the Privacy Act. If you believe that any personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may ask us to amend it by emailing us at privacy@selwyn.govt.nz.  We will consider if the information requires amendment and will not charge for making any amendments.  If we agree that your personal information needs to be corrected, we will do so and provide you with an amended record, if requested.  If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment, then we will add a note to the personal information, stating that you disagree with it.

If you feel we have breached any of the principles set out in the Privacy Act, or have a privacy issue you wish to discuss, please contact us via:

• website: Selwyn District Council - Contact Us
• email: privacy@selwyn.govt.nz
• phone: 0800 SELWYN (0800 735 996)

If you believe there is a privacy dispute we cannot resolve, you can make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner, who can investigate potential breaches of the privacy principles. You can contact the Privacy Commissioner by:

• phone: 0800 803 909 (Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 3:00pm)
• email: enquiries@privacy.org.nz
• post: Office of the Privacy Commissioner, PO Box 10094, Wellington 6143