The doors to our Whitianga and Paeroa offices will be closed for the summer break from 4pm on Friday, 20 December, while our Taupō and Hamilton offices will close for the summer break at 1pm on Tuesday, 24 December. All offices will reopen on Monday, 6 January 2025. To report air or water pollution, unsafe water activities in or on a river, lake or harbour, or make a general enquiry or information request during this time, call us 24/7 on 0800 800 401.

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Privacy of your information

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Waikato Regional Council takes your privacy seriously.  

We are subject to the Privacy Act 2020 and Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, which govern how personal information is collected, used, stored and accessed.

Collecting information from you

Unless already stated, when we collect information you will be told what it will be used for. This information may be in the privacy statement on the form you are completing, or we may tell you if we are collecting your information via a phone call or in person. This information could include details such as your search queries, the pages you view, time and date of your visit and browser type.

Our internet service providers may also make a record of your visit and log the information for statistical purposes. This information is only analysed in bulk for broad demographic content. Website use by an individual is not analysed.

If we collect information about you from a third party, we will let you know and direct you to the third party’s privacy statement. This type of information will be anonymised.

How we may use information about you

Unless an exception applies, your information (including your name, address, email, and phone number) will only be used by us for the purposes we have told you about. These include Waikato Regional Council business purposes such as responding to your request for information or service and to keep you informed on progress. It may also include statistical and quality improvement purposes such as audit. On some occasions, personal information may be shared with trusted third parties. If we share personal information with a third party, we will let you know.

Storage and retention of your information

We have obligations under the Public Records Act 2005 in specific circumstances to retain records of our business. 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, for example, bylaws, annual and long term plans and district or regional planning instruments.

We delete your personal information from our website every month and retain it in our electronic document management system for as long as administratively necessary. The length of time we keep your personal information depends on whether we have an ongoing need to retain it (for example, to provide you with a service you requested).

Google tools and cookies

We use Google Analytics to track and report website traffic. Google Analytics uses cookies for tracking and measurement purposes. They help recognise unique users, trace interactions and collect data such as pageviews, session duration and engagement. Google Analytics makes a record of your visit and logs the information for statistical purposes. This information is only analysed in bulk for broad demographic content. Website use by an individual is not analysed.

To opt out of Google Analytics reporting your activity, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. This add-on prevents Google Analytics from tracking your site activity. It's compatible with Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Microsoft Edge12.

We also use Google Tag Manager (GTM). GTM is a small item of online code, similar to a cookie, that can be used to measure web traffic and visitor behaviour across websites. GTM reads JavaScript and HTML tags and pushes the data to our Google Analytics account. More information about GTM can be found on Google's privacy policy and terms of use pages.

Social media

We collect, store, use, and disclose information that may be provided to us when people engage with Waikato Regional Council on social media.

We use multiple social networking services, including but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter), to communicate with the public about the work of Waikato Regional Council and facilitate engagement with our communities.

By using or otherwise accessing social media platforms on which Waikato Regional Council maintains an official account, you are accepting the practices described in each social media platform's privacy policy and Terms of Service.

When you communicate with Waikato Regional Council using these platforms, the social networking service may collect your personal information for its own purposes. They do not have any access to the personal information we hold on our systems.

These services have their own privacy statements which are independent of those of Waikato Regional Council. We encourage users to frequently check the terms and conditions of all social media platforms through which they interact with Waikato Regional Council.

We recommend all users who interact with Waikato Regional Council through social media platforms also read the relevant privacy policies:

Meta (Facebook and Instagram) Privacy Policy

LinkedIn Privacy Policy

X (formerly Twitter) Privacy Policy

YouTube (Google) Privacy Policy

Sprout Social Privacy Policy

We collect anonymised data about the performance of our social media channels and content through the native reporting functions of each social media platform and trusted third party services such as Sprout Social. This information enables us to improve our social media services to ensure we are providing our communities with engaging and relevant content.

We may collect, use, and store comments received on our social media posts. From time-to-time, comments, names and profile images may be included in reports to council staff and councilors. These reports may be published on our website to help inform the council’s understanding of public sentiment on particular issues/events and decision making.

Exceptions

Exceptions where your information may be used for a purpose not disclosed to you include:

  • where disclosure is required to comply with legislative obligations.
  • where the information is going to be used in a way that would not identify you (such as statistical reporting).

Your personal information

You do not have to provide us with information, but if you choose not to, we may not be able to provide you with the information or the service you are seeking. If you wish to keep any of your personal information private or to restrict its use, please let us know so we can take extra protective measures.

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that there are safeguards in place to prevent loss or misuse of your personal information and to keep it secure. You have the right to request access to, and correction of, any personal information we hold about you.

Making a complaint/request for service

You may contact us if you have a complaint about the way we have dealt with your personal information by using the online request for service form or by calling us on 0800 800 401. Alternatively, you may contact the Privacy Commissioner on 0800 803 909.

When you contact us to make a complaint/request for service we will ask you for some personal information, such as your name and contact details. This is so that we can stay in touch with you regarding your complaint/request for service. We will not use your information for any other purpose without your permission.

You do not have to provide this information, but if you choose not to then we will be unable to keep you up to date with progress on your complaint/request for service.

Contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or would like to access or correct your information.