Allotments

This privacy notice is designed to help you understand how we use personal information when delivering our allotment letting processes, and specifically the data we need to formalise your tenancy agreement with us. We have set out the services types, the information we may use to deliver the services, who we may share it with, and how long we will keep it.

This privacy notice supports  Privacy Notice

Services covered within this privacy notice:

• Allotment Service: Provides management and development of allotments.

Categories of personal data

We only collect and use the minimum amount of personal information required when delivering a service to you. Wherever possible we use non-identifiable personal information.

We will use some or all of the personal information provided such as:

• Your name, address and date of birth.
• Contact details, such as email address, mobile phone number etc.

Purposes

To comply with our public and statutory functions to provide an allotment service. We use your contact details to notify you of available allotments and to arrange plot viewings. If you choose to take on a plot, your information is used to draw up a tenancy agreement. We then use your information for contractual and billing purposes, as well as for communications relating to the allotment service.

Specifically, we use your information to:

• Enter into, and fulfil a Tenancy Agreement
• Deliver the service
• Maintain and administer the allotment database
• Contact you in the event of a problem with your tenancy/plot
• Send out renewal information
• Enable us to meet all legal and statutory obligations
• Notify you of changes e.g. repairs and maintenance
• Chase up outstanding payments

Information sharing/recipients

Information will be shared with relevant Allotment Society volunteers specific to the Allotment you have tenancy on, as they assist in the running of our sites, including arranging plot-viewings for prospective tenants; inspecting plots; issuing notices.  Billing and Financial information will also be shared with our finance and income department.

Your information may be shared with other external government and enforcement agencies, for example Highway Services or the Environment Agency, if we need to report flooding or other issues at an allotment site.

Exceptionally, we may need to share information about you with the law enforcement agencies such as the police if we need to report theft, criminal damage or if we suspect that an allotment is used for unlawful purposes.

Legal basis for processing

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you, under the Data Protection Act 2018, the lawful bases we rely on for using your personal information is:

• Article 6(1)(b) UK GDPR - We have a contractual obligation (Tenancy Agreement) with you.
• Article 6(1)(e) UK GDPR- Where it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of local authority functions under the Allotment Act 1908 as modified under the Allotment Act 1950
• Article 6(1)(d) UK GDPR - In an emergency situation where it is necessary to protect the vital interests of any individual.

How long we will keep your personal information

We will only use your personal information whilst delivering the service to you and to deal with any questions or complaints that we may receive about this, unless the law requires us to keep it for a longer period. In practice, this means that your information will be kept for as long as you are a tenant, plus two years then destroyed. Your personal information would only be retained for longer than this in the event of tenancy determinations. Billing information is retained for 6 years plus current years in line with the Limitations Act 1980.

Updates (notice)

We may update or revise this Privacy Notice at any time so refer back to this page for the most up-to-date version.