Privacy Statement
Your privacy is important to Horowhenua District Council (referred to in this Privacy Statement as “we”, “our” or “us”). This Privacy Statement outlines what personal information we may collect and why; how we store, use, and share it; and how you can access or correct it.
Overall, you can be assured that we deal with your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.
Collecting your personal information
What we collect
When we talk about “personal information” we mean any identifiable information about you. This can include, for example, information about your identity (name, date of birth and gender); contact details (address, email address, telephone numbers), financial details (bank account and transaction details about payments to and from you); usage information (including information about how you use our website, facilities and services) and any other relevant information that is provided by you, while you’re communicating with us or using our services or facilities.
When we collect your information
We may collect your personal information directly from you or if a person acting on your behalf provides information to us directly.
For example when you:
- speak with us in person, over the phone, email, text or engage with us via social media.
- apply for a consent, a job or funding.
- complete a written submission, submit an online form, or make an online payment.
We may also:
- keep a record of any information you receive from us.
- collect personal information about you from other organisations, entities or people, such as:
- Council Controlled Organisations
- Our suppliers, which include - Land Information New Zealand, QV, solicitors/conveyancers, the New Zealand Police, credit reporting agencies, and other organisations, entities or people where you have authorised them to provide us with information.
Why we collect your information
We only collect your personal information when it is necessary for a specific purpose connected with the services we provide, or when you provide information to us directly. The purpose for collecting and using your information varies according to the services you are using. In general, we collect your personal information fairly with your consent, for example in the performance of a contract with you, or to comply with laws and regulations.
Where We Collect Information
CCTV
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), is used in particular areas to monitor passenger and traffic movements. CCTV is also used in our secure facilities like the Civic Building, libraries and community centres to help reduce crime and anti-social behaviour and to promote community safety.
Signage indicates where CCTV equipment is operating and footage will be only be viewed by authorised people, in accordance with the purposes noted above and when checking that the system is operational. No attempt will be made to identify individuals from CCTV footage except in cases of reported or suspected incidents requiring investigation.
Body-worn cameras
Cameras are worn by our parking wardens, animal control, noise control and sometimes our regulatory officers as a deterrent to anti-social behaviour towards them and to provide a clear record of events if an altercation occurs. Our staff will advise you if they are recording you. Footage from the body-worn cameras may be used in cases of reported or suspected incidents requiring investigation, or in relation to any legal proceedings.
Live streaming of Council meetings
Most public Council meetings are broadcast live online and then made available on our website. Most of the filming will cover elected members, however the filming may also include shorts of the public in the background and of anyone speaking in a public forum.
Submission forms and application forms
All submissions are provided in their entirety (including name and contact details unless submitters have requested this information to be kept private) to Elected Members and made available to the public at our office and on our website.
Applications (whether made online or in hardcopy) for example, for a notified resource consent, are made available in their entirety to the public at our office and on our website. This will include the name and contact details of the applicant.
Personal information (including contact details) will also be used for the administration of the consultation process including informing you of the outcome of the consultation.
Website cookies, analytics and advertising
Our communications team may collect information about your visit to help us improve our websites, including horowhenua.govt.nz and subsidiary sites. This information is grouped with other similar information and doesn’t identify you personally. It includes:
- Your IP address
- Search terms used
- Pages visited and links you clicked on
- The date and time you visited the website
- Which site you may have come from
- Your operating system and type of browser you use
- Information about your age, gender and interests.
Our communications team and digital marketing partners use technologies like cookies, google tag manager and google analytics to analyse traffic to our site and customise content and advertising.
Facebook Ads conversion tracking is an analytics service provided by Facebook and connects data from the Facebook advertising network with actions performed on our website. The Facebook pixel tracks conversions that can be attributed to ads on Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network.
You can control what Facebook collects on Facebook’s data policy and privacy page.
Using your personal information
How we use your information
We may use your personal information to:
- Provide you with services or facilities, including those you have requested and those our Council Controlled Organisations provide to you.
- Provide you with information about our (or our Council Controlled Organisations’) events, news, services, or facilities we consider may be of interest to you.
- Confirm your identity for information security purposes.
- Respond to enquiries or provide you with information you’ve requested.
- Process consents, licences, approvals, permits, or other applicable authorisations.
- Process your applications and payments for any services or facilities.
- Comply with relevant laws and regulations.
- Undertake activities connected with the running of our business, such as general administrative purposes, training or testing and maintenance of our computer systems.
- Assist us in analysing, and further developing and improving our products and services.
And for any specific purpose that we notify you of at the time your personal information is collected, or for any other purpose that you authorise.
Sharing your information
We may share your personal information to:
- Any person engaged by Council, or Council Controlled Organisation, to provide products or services to you on our behalf, where your personal information is necessary for the provision of those products or services.
- A third party and/or the public if the law or regulations require us to (including to comply with our obligations under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, the Resource Management Act 1991, the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, the Local Government Act 2002 and the Building Act 2004).
- A third party in the course of legal proceedings or other investigations.
- Any person you authorise us to disclose your personal information to.
- Any person, if the personal information is publically available (for example, information held on property files or the rating information database).
- Councillors and the public when you make a submission or a publicly notified application.
In some instances, your personal information may be transferred and held by IT service providers in New Zealand and overseas (for example, where it is stored using a cloud-based service).
How long we hold personal information
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. The length of time we keep your personal information depends on what it is and whether we have an ongoing need to retain it.
The Public Records Act 2005 requires us to retain “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.
Protecting your personal information
We are committed to ensuring that your information is protected, and we take reasonable steps to protect your personal information against loss, damage, misuse and unauthorised access. Only individuals who need personal information to help us perform our duties and obligations will be given restricted access.
We will take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.
Accessing and correcting your personal information
You may request confirmation of whether or not we hold any personal information about you and you may request access to your personal information that we hold by emailing us at privacyofficer@horowhenua.govt.nz.
If you request to access your personal information we will take steps to verify your identity. Once we have verified your identity, we will provide you with such confirmation and access unless we believe we can withhold the information under the Privacy Act.
If you think the personal information we hold about you is incorrect, you can ask us to change it. If we agree, it will be corrected, and we’ll provide you with an updated record, if requested. If we don’t agree that the information needs to be corrected, we'll make note of your request on the disputed information as a "statement of correction".
Your right to access and correct any personal information we hold is subject to the Privacy Act.
Questions or Complaints
You can contact us any time to ask about our privacy practices, to let us know that you're concerned about anything, or make a complaint about the way we've handled your personal information, via:
- Email: To the Horowhenua District Council Privacy Officer at privacyofficer@horowhenua.govt.nz
- By Post: Privacy Officer, Horowhenua District Council, Private Bag 4002, Levin (please mark or label as 'Private & Confidential')
For more detailed information about the Privacy Act you can refer to:
If you believe there is a privacy dispute we cannot resolve, you can make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner by:
- Phone: 0800 803 909 (Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 3:00pm)
- Email: enquiries@privacy.org.nz
- By Post: Office of the Privacy Commissioner, PO Box 10094, Wellington 6143.