PRIVACY POLICY NOTICE

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The policy: This privacy policy notice is served by Athena Planning which is the trading name of Athena Planning & Development Limited who are a limited company registered in Scotland at 5 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AN under the website; www.athena-planning.com

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The purpose of this policy is to explain to you how we control, process, handle and protect your personal information through the business and while you browse or use this website. If you do not agree to the following policy you may wish to cease viewing / using this website, and or refrain from submitting your personal data to us.

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Policy key definitions:

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• "I", "our", "us", “Practice” or "we" refer to the business, Athena Planning.

• "you", "the user" refer to the person(s) using this website.

• GDPR means General Data Protection Act.

• PECR means Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulation.

• ICO means Information Commissioner's Office.

• Cookies mean small files stored on a users computer or device.

 

Key principles of GDPR:

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Our privacy policy embodies the following key principles; (a) Lawfulness, fairness and transparency, (b) Purpose limitation, (c) Data minimisation, (d) Accuracy, (e) Storage limitation, (f) Integrity and confidence, (g) Accountability.

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This Privacy Notice explains in detail the types of personal data we may collect about you when you interact with us. It also explains how we’ll store and handle that data and keep it safe. The Practice is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations. We hope the following sections will answer any questions you have but if not, please do get in touch with us.

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It’s likely that we will need to update this Privacy Notice from time to time so we encourage you to check this privacy notice for changes whenever you visit our website.

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This privacy notice is in line with General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679 EU) and the Data Protection Bill.

 

WHAT INFORMATION DOES THE PRACTICE COLLECT?

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• information that you provide by filling in forms on https//www.athena-planning.com, e.g. enquiry forms and online job applications

• information when you engage with us on our social media channels

• if you contact us by email, post, fax or phone, we may keep a record of the correspondence

• information relating to third party contracts (contractors, consultants, suppliers & clients) e.g. names and contact details, contractual information and payment details.

 

WHY DOES THE PRACTICE PROCESS PERSONAL DATA?

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The Practice processes this data for several reasons:

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• To enter into a professional contract and to meet its obligations under the contract. For example, it needs to process data to provide clients with terms of service, to pay invoices, to ensure legal compliance for matters such as health and safety and to check credit information where necessary.

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In other cases, the Practice has a legitimate interest in processing personal data.  Processing this data allows the Practice to:

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• Keep clients informed on key information regarding a project

• Inform all third parties of information relating to key business changes that may affect them

• Respond to any queries and complaints

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date supplier, contractor/consultant and client contact details (including details of who to contact in the event of an emergency)

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Photography may also be taken as part of the standard project process- this may include pictures of both internal and external spaces (including residential sites). Consent will always be relied upon in these instances.

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From time to time Athena Planning where appropriate will use social media to engage with its following and to update the community on key business activities which may include details from your organisation, any posts containing personal data will be subject to us receiving consent from that party.

 

WHO HAS ACCESS TO DATA?

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• Your information may be shared internally, including with the Partners, Managers and technical staff working on the specific project, the accounts department and the IT Manager if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles.

• The Practice may complete a business credit check of financial reliability of a client; this is processed using ‘Risk disk’.

• The Practice may share your information with a supply chain sub-contractor working with us if it is necessary to complete the work.

• The Practice will not transfer your data to countries outside the European Economic Area.

 

HOW DOES THE PRACTICE PROTECT DATA?

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The Practice takes the security of your data seriously. The Practice has internal policies and controls in place to try to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed by anyone that is not authorised to.

Where the Practice engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, they do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.

 

FOR HOW LONG DOES THE PRACTICE KEEP DATA?

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The Practice will hold your personal data for the following time periods:

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• Contact information and relevant correspondence relating to the project it is associated to- 6 years for legal requirements.

• Bank Details and payment records- 6 years for accounting purposes.

• Contact details of residents that we have been contracted to work on- on completion of the contract.

• Photography of personal homes for the purpose of surveys and other relevant project work- 6 years for legal requirements.

 

YOUR RIGHTS

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As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:

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• access and obtain a copy of your data on request

• require the Practice to change incorrect or incomplete data

• require the Practice to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing; and

• object to the processing of your data where the Practice is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing.

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If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the Practice where we will look to resolve the issue. If you believe that the Practice has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.

 

 

WHAT IF YOU DO NOT PROVIDE PERSONAL DATA?

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Athena Planning will only ask for specific data that is necessary in order to effectively manage the professional contract.  If you do not wish to provide this data, then this may mean that the contract cannot be undertaken. Any personal data used for the activity of marketing will be used on the back of the relevant consent.

 

AUTOMATED DECISION-MAKING

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No decisions are based solely on automated decision-making.

 

COOKIES & IP ADDRESSES

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We may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on your browser or the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. Some of the cookies we use are essential for the site to operate. If you continue to use our site, you agree to our use of cookies.

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You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon you visit our site.

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In addition, we may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

 

SPONSORED LINKS, AFFILIATE TRAKING AND COMMISSIONS

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Our website may contain adverts, sponsored and affiliate links on some pages. These are typically served through our advertising partners; Google Adsense, eBay Partner Network, Amazon Affiliates, or are self-served through our own means. We only use trusted advertising partners who each have high standards of user privacy and security. However, we do not control the actual adverts seen / displayed by our advertising partners. Our ad partners may collect data and use cookies for ad personalisation and measurement. Where ad preferences are requested as 'non-personalised' cookies may still be used for frequency capping, aggregated ad reporting and to combat fraud and abuse.

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Clicking on any adverts, sponsored or affiliate links may track your actions by using a cookie saved to your device. You can read more about cookies on this website above. Your actions are usually recorded as a referral from our website by this cookie. In most cases we earn a very small commission from the advertiser or advertising partner, at no cost to you, whether you make a purchase on their website or not.  We take no responsibility for the content, advice or otherwise of any external website or party.

We use advertising partners in these ways to help generate an income from the website, which allows us to continue our work and provide you with the best overall experience and valued information.

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If you have any concerns about this, we suggest you do not click on any adverts, sponsored or affiliate links found throughout the website.

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If you require any clarification for further information, please contact info@athena-planning.com

 

Athena Planning & Development Ltd

January 2023

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