Our Privacy Policy
Who are we?
Cheshire Ecological Services (CES) is the consultancy division of Cheshire Wildlife Trust Ltd, to which all profits are covenanted.
CES is a member of Wildlife Trust Consultancies (WTC) which enables our clients to benefit from the nationwide support and expertise of that organisation. CES ecologists are members of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM).
CES conduct ecological surveys and provide reports which can then be submitted to the planning department. If protected species are found during such a survey CES has the expertise to formulate a mitigation strategy and if necessary write a development licence application. In some cases this can mean moving animals to a different area so that the development can proceed. In other cases this may be timing development activities so that animals are protected and developers adhere to wildlife legislation.
Our commitment to your privacy
We are committed to keeping the personal details of our clients and contractors safe. This policy explains how and why we use your personal data, to ensure that you remain informed and in control of your information.
Any references to Cheshire Ecological Services, CES, or to ‘we’ or ‘us’ refer to:
Cheshire Wildlife Trust Ltd t/a Cheshire Ecological Services (registered company number 738693). Cheshire Ecological Services is the commercial division of Cheshire Wildlife Trust..
We use three key definitions to describe people mentioned in this policy. These are definitions used by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights (www.ico.org.uk)
‘Data subject’: this is you, one of our clients. As the data subject, we respect your right to control your data.
‘Data controller’: this is us, Cheshire Ecological Services. With your permission, we determine why and how your personal data is used (as outlined in this policy).
‘Data processor’: this is us, Cheshire Ecological Services, who processes your data, with your permission. For example, this might be when providing details for license applications and during the production of reports.
We will never sell your personal data.
Should you wish to find out more about the information we hold about you, or about our privacy policy, please contact us:
Operations Manager
Telephone: 01948 820229
Email: info@cheshireecologicalservices.co.uk
Bickley Hall Farm, Bickley Lane, Malpas, Cheshire SY14 8EF
Our office hours are Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm.
Why do we collect your personal data?
We use your personal data to keep in touch with you.
We will only ever collect, store and use your personal data when we have an identified purpose and reason to do so. The ICO refers to this as a ‘lawful basis’. Further information about why we collect your personal data is outlined below.
- a) To administer consultancy for your specific project
We collect your personal data to administer consultancy for your specified project, which may involve:
Sending you your initial quote
Undertaking surveys and organising access to sites
Providing consultancy advice via email or telephone
Producing ecological reports
Sending reports and correspondence via email
Applying for species specific mitigation licences
Providing information to contractors or sub-contractors
Marketing services to you where we think there is a legitimate interest
The ICO define the lawful basis for processing your data for these purposes as ‘contractual’.
- b) To buy or sell goods or services
We collect personal data to comply with contractual responsibilities when we buy and sell goods and services from others, including contractors or sub-contractors. We may also use this data to market other services we can offer.
The ICO define the lawful basis for processing personal data for these purposes as ‘contractual’.
- c) To meet our legal obligations
We collect personal data in order to comply with legal obligations such as providing information to bodies such as Natural England, DEFRA, HMRC, Companies House and HSE.
The ICO define the lawful basis for processing personal data for these purposes as ‘legal obligation’.
- d) To enable effective functioning of our organisation
We collect personal data to enable the company to operate effectively in a variety of ways such as:
responding to complaints,
safeguarding, health and safety, security
maintaining records to comply with client requirements
maintaining historical records of protected species, habitat management and biological field records
research and statistical analysis
marketing purposes
The ICO define the lawful basis for processing personal data for these purposes as ‘legitimate interest’.
What kind of personal data do we collect? How do we collect it?
- a) Basic information
We will usually collect basic information about you, including your name, postal address, telephone number, email address and your bank details.
Most of the time, we collect this data from you directly. Sometimes this is through an email; other times, it is over the telephone, or in writing. Occasionally we obtain information, such as your telephone number or other contact details, from external sources (only where you have given permission for such information to be shared).
- b) Getting to know you better
Ways in which we collect personal data to get to know you better include:
Our website
Our website uses ‘cookies’ to help provide you with the best experience we can. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile phone when you browse websites.
Our cookies help us:
Make our website work as you’d expect
Remember your settings during and between visits
Improve the speed/security of the site
Allow you to share pages with social networks like Facebook
Continuously improve our website for you
For more information on our Cookies Policy, please click here (see annex 1).
- b) Sensitive personal data
We do not normally collect or store sensitive personal data (such as information relating to health, beliefs or political affiliation) about clients or contractors. However, there are some situations where this will occur.
When we do so, we will be very clear as to why we are collecting such information, and we will only do so with your specific consent and permission. In these situations, we collect the data from you directly.
If you are a contractor then we may collect extra information about you, for example:
references
criminal records checks
details of emergency contacts
medical conditions
We may also collect sensitive personal data if you have an accident as a result of our work. This information will be retained for legal reasons, for safeguarding purposes and to protect us (including in the event of an insurance or legal claim). If this does occur, we’ll take extra care to ensure your privacy rights are protected.
How do we store your data?
- a) Security
All of the personal data we process is processed by our staff in the UK. However, for the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance your information may be situated outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). This will be done in accordance with guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Electronic data and databases are stored on secure computer systems and we control who has access to information (using both physical and electronic means). Our staff receive data protection training and we have a set of detailed data protection procedures which personnel are required to follow when handling personal data.
- b) Data retention policy
We will only use and store information for as long as it required for the purposes it was collected for. We continually review what information we hold, and delete what is no longer required.
For further information, please see our Data Retention Policy.
Your rights
We respect your right to control your data. Your rights include:
The right to be informed
This privacy notice outlines how we capture, store and use your data. If you have any questions about any elements of this policy, please contact us.
The right of access
If you wish to obtain a record of the personal data we hold about you, through a Subject Access Request, we will respond within one month.
The right to rectification
If we have captured information about you that is inaccurate or incomplete, we will update it.
The right to erase
You can ask us to remove or randomise your personal details from our records.
The right to restrict processing
You can ask us to stop using your personal data.
The right to data portability
You can ask to obtain your personal data from us for your own purposes.
The right to object
You can ask to be excluded from marketing activity.
Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
We respect your right not to be subject to a decision that is based on automated processing.
For more information on your individual rights, please see the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Making a complaint
Cheshire Ecological Services want to exceed your expectation in everything we do. However, we know that there may be times when we do not meet our own high standards. When this happens, we want to hear about it, in order to deal with the situation as quickly as possible and put measures in place to stop it happening again.
We take complaints very seriously and we treat them as an opportunity to develop our approach. This is why we are always very grateful to hear from people who are willing to take the time to help us improve.
Our policy is:
- To provide a fair complaints procedure that is clear and easy to use for anyone wishing to make a complaint.
- To publicise the existence of our complaints procedure so that people know how to contact us to make a complaint.
- To make sure everyone in our organisation knows what to do if a complaint is received.
- To make sure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely way.
- To make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved and that relationships are repaired.
- To learn from complaints and feedback to help us to improve what we do.
Confidentiality
All complaint information will be handled sensitively, in line with relevant data protection requirements.
Responsibility
Overall responsibility for this policy and its implementation lies with the Managing Director.
Information Commissioner’s Office
For further assistance with complaints regarding your data, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, whose remit covers the UK.
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.org.uk
Leaving our website
We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any other websites linked to our website. If you have followed a link from this website to another website you may be supplying information to a third party.
Get in touch
Should you wish to find out more about the information we hold about you, or about our privacy policy, please contact us:
Operations Manager
Telephone: 01948 820229
Email: info@cheshireecologicalservices
Bickley Hall Farm, Bickley Lane, Malpas, Cheshire SY14 8EF
Our office hours are Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm.
We update this policy periodically.
Last updated: November 2020