Privacy policy

What personal information do we collect?

We need to collect personal information for a number of reasons, however, this will only be necessary for a function, activity or as part of delivering services of the Council.

This information may include your name, gender, date of birth, images, contact details, financial and technical information.

We may also collect personal information provided by you regarding your communications with us or your use of our services or facilities.

How we collect personal information

Wherever possible your personal information will be collected directly 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. For example, when you:

• Communicate with us in person, by letter, phone or electronically.
• Complete and submit forms or applications for consents, licences, 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.
• 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.

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.

We may collect personal information about you from other organisations, entities or persons to fulfil a necessary activity. These might include our suppliers such as Land Information New Zealand, other government departments, solicitors/conveyancers, credit reporting agencies.

What information do we collect about website use?

You can browse the Taupō District Council website without providing any personal information. The website does not automatically collect any personal information about you.

However, when you visit the website we automatically log some non-personal information, namely

• the IP addresses from which you accessed the site;
• the terms you used to search for content on the site;
• the pages you accessed;
• the last site you visited before coming to this site; and the type of browser and operating system you use, and your screen resolution.

This information cannot be used to identify you and will be used only for the purposes of system administration, reporting within the Council, and auditing the use of the site.

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. No credit card or other user specific details are saved in the cookie. All metadata stored is encrypted using the AES standard.

We use Google Analytics to collect statistical information about your visit to taupo.govt.nz to help us understand how our website is used by visitors and how it can be improved. This data collected is aggregated and cannot be used to identify individuals or any personal information.

We fully understand that some people do not want their online activity to be tracked even if it is being used anonymously. To prevent your data from being available to Google Analytics you can use the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on available here.

The website contains links to other websites operated by third parties. Taupō District Council takes no responsibility for the privacy practices of third parties. You should consult the privacy policies of each linked website in order to determine the policy that each third party adheres to.

When and where do collect still or video footage?

We may collect still or video footage through various means, including:

• Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) may be used in particular areas to monitor traffic and pedestrian movements, secure facilities such as service centres, libraries, and recreation facilities. Public places are monitored in order to help reduce crime and anti-social behaviour (these are monitored by the Police). 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 parking 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 reviewed at the end of every month to assess what recorded data and images should be held or required for evidential purposes. The default setting for keeping the information is set at 30 days.
• 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

How we use your information

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

• To confirm your identity. This is to ensure we are interacting with and delivering services and information to the right person 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 provide you with services or facilities you have requested, and those our related organisations provide to you.
• 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

Sharing your information

Information will only be shared with your consent, or where there is a statutory requirement to share it.

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, in order to assist with the functions and services they provide.
• A third party, such as government agencies or industry bodies, if we are required to do so to meet regulatory and reporting requirements and to comply with laws or regulations, or in the course of legal proceedings or other investigations.
• 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 are made available in full (including the submitter’s name and contact details) on our website and at our main office;
• Information held on property files, resource consent applications, our rating information database; and
• Video footage of Council meetings that are intended for broadcast or to be otherwise available for public viewing

How long do 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. This is in accordance with the Council’s Disposal schedule or applicable statutory requirements.

The Public Records Act 2005 requires us to retain protected records (external link) 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 requested personal information

If you do not provide all the personal information that we request, we may not be able to adequately respond to your correspondence, process any applications you have submitted, provide the services or facilities you have requested or registered for, 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.

Security and accuracy

We have strict security procedures covering the storage of your information in order to prevent unauthorised access and to comply with the terms of the Privacy Act 2020. We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others.

All data is stored behind corporate firewalls and only specific employees are able to access your personal data.

Taupō District Council attempts to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of your personal information. Our servers are protected by reasonable physical and electronic security measures.

We will also undertake reasonable measures to ensure personal information is accurate, current and relevant.

Accessing and correcting your personal information

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 info@taupo.govt.nz .

Once we have verified your identity, we will provide you with confirmation and access, unless we believe we can withhold the information under the Privacy Act.

You can ask us to correct the personal information we hold by emailing us at info@taupo.govt.nz If we agree that your personal information needs to be corrected, we will do so and provide you with an amended record, if requested.

Your right to access and correct any personal information we hold is subject to the Privacy Act.