Privacy Statement

Your privacy is important to us. Our privacy statement sets out how and why we collect and store your personal information, what we will use it for and with whom we can share it.

We take our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 (Privacy Act), and the information privacy principles in the Privacy Act, seriously. This privacy statement has been prepared in accordance with our obligations and your rights under the Privacy Act. Certain products and services we provide may be subject to additional terms and conditions, and privacy policies. Therefore, we recommend that you carefully read the terms and conditions and any specific privacy policy that applies to the particular products and services we offer.

To ensure we keep up with changes to our organisation, the Council may occasionally update this Privacy Statement.

Why do we collect your personal information?

We need to collect personal information in order to perform functions and activities of Council. We only collect your personal information when it is necessary for a specific purpose connected with the services we provide. The purpose for collecting and using your information varies according to the services you are accessing. In general, we collect your personal information fairly, with your consent, for example in the performance of a contract with you, or to comply with laws and regulations.

What personal information does Council collect?

The personal information we collect may include your name, date of birth, address, email address, telephone numbers, demographic information like age group, gender, ethnicity, and ability status. It may also include information on your use of our services or facilities. Digital imagery (including photos, videos of yourself or dependents) may be collected at Council facilities, locations of interest and events.

We may also collect any other information provided by you in connection with, or specifically related to, your communications with us or how you interact with us.

When do we collect personal information?

Personal information is collected when you, or someone acting on your behalf, provides information to the Manawatū District Council directly.

For example, when you:

Communicate with us in person, by letter, phone, text, email, instant messages or other means of electronic communication
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 library/aquatic memberships, 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
Appear in any images and audio from Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) or body cameras, as described below
Subscribe to our update services, like Antenno

What information do we collect when you visit our websites?

When you visit one of our websites, we may use technology solutions such as “cookies” to provide you with better access to tailored information and services and to better serve you when you return to them.

We may collect, hold, and use statistical information about your visits and in connection with your IP address to help us improve our website, for instance:

The search terms you used
The pages accessed and the links you clicked
The date and time you visited the site
The referring website (if any) through which you clicked through to our website
Your operating system (e.g. Windows XP, Mac OS X)
The type of web browser you use (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox)
The make and model details of a mobile device used to visit our site

You may disable the use of cookies on the website, however you may find some processes, e.g. search, may not work correctly.

What information do we collect from CCTV?

We use Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in particular areas to monitor public places and traffic movements, such as carparks. offices, libraries and recreation centres, to help reduce crime and anti-social behaviour and to promote community safety.

Signage advising of CCTV equipment will give notice of areas covered by such equipment. CCTV footage will only be reviewed by authorised people in accordance with the purposes noted above or to regularly check the system is operational. No attempt is made to identify individuals from CCTV footage except in relation to a reported or suspected incident requiring investigation.

What information do we collect from Body Cameras?

Council Animal Control and Compliance staff may wear body cameras which are activated as required. They will be used to record general interactions, predominantly but not solely to reduce abusive or threatening behaviour. Recordings of violent or threatening incidents will be forwarded to the New Zealand Police.

Online recording of Council and Committee meetings

In the interests of making our decision-making process transparent and accessible, all public Council or Committees of Council meetings are recorded and put online and then made available on our website.

You will know which meetings are being filmed as there will be a sign clearly stating this before you enter the meeting room. Most of the filming will cover elected members as they speak and debate at the meeting, however, the filming may also include shots of the public in the background and of anyone speaking at a public forum.

Members of the public who speak at Council or Committee meetings (e.g., during a public forum or as part of a hearing) will have their names included in the minutes of the meeting. The meeting minutes are published on the Council’s website and the content, including the names of those who spoke, may be discoverable through search engines such as Google.

Filming/Photography

We may take photos and/or video at civic events in the district (e.g., citizenship ceremonies and other public and community events that we manage) for internal or external publications, signage and wayfinding, consultations, campaigns, and event advertising. Signage on display or other communication at an event will let you know if photography or filming will be taking place. If you do not want to be included in any photos or video footage, please talk to one of our staff members present at the event.

For any questions or to request your photo not be used by Manawatū District Council, please discuss with the photography team on site at the time, to let them know. If a photograph of you or your dependents is published on our website and social media and you wish to have it taken down, then please notify the team at photography@mdc.govt.nz, stating reasoning. The team may wish to discuss this with you further.

Online forms

In some instances, your personal information may be held by service providers in New Zealand and overseas (for example, where it is stored using a cloud-based service).

Responses to online forms

When you respond to an online form on our site, we hold any information you have entered into these forms. This information is used to respond to issues you raise, correct information we hold, provide a service to you, or to inform decision making and is shared with Manawatū District Council staff and any third parties needed to provide a service to you.

Online submission forms for consultations

All submissions (including name and contact details) may be provided in their entirety to elected members and made available to the public at our office and on our website. Personal information (including contact details) will also be used for the administration of the consultation processes including informing you of the outcome of the consultation. Demographic information may be used to identify macro-trends which can assist the Council in identifying who is engaging with us. All information collected will be securely held by Manawatū District Council, with submitters having the right to access and correct personal information. We also have submissions on other websites that may have their own privacy statements, so please check those as well.

Submitters who do not wish for their name and contact details to be made publicly available can contact the Manawatū District Council to request appropriate redaction.

How we use your personal information?

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

to provide you with services or facilities, including:
- those you have requested; and
- assisting partner organisations, such as our Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs), to provide such services or facilities to you
to positively confirm your identity. This is to avoid inappropriate release or use of your information
to respond to correspondence or to provide you with information that you have requested
to process your application for any consent, licence, registration, approval, permit, or other authorisation for which you have applied
to process your application to use or to register for any of our services or facilities, including our online services
to process payments received by or made by Council
to respond to your requests, enquiries or feedback, or for customer care related activities
to provide you with information about our events, news, services or facilities, or the events, news, services or facilities of our CCOs that we consider may be of interest to you
to comply with relevant laws and regulations
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 specific purpose which we notify you of at the time your personal information is collected
to carry out surveys to improve our business processes and operations, based upon your feedback
for general administrative and business purposes.

Sharing your Information

Information will only be shared with your consent, or where there is 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 partner organisations, in order to assist with the functions and services they provide.
A third party, if we are required to do so under laws or regulations, including to comply with our obligations under the Public Records Act 2005, Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, Building Act 2004 and Resource Management Act 1991, or any other relevant Act.
A third party in the course of legal proceedings or other investigations. This may include sharing CCTV footage and footage from body cameras worn by Animal Control or Compliance staff with the New Zealand Police or other public sector agencies where criminal activity is reported or suspected. The New Zealand Police may also access live feeds from certain CCTV cameras from time to time for law enforcement, investigation, and emergency response purposes.
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.
any personal information, if that information is held in a public register, e.g. information and communications held on and in relation to property files or the rating information database;
email addresses provided when commenting in discussion forums, on other Council websites or when emailing feedback directly to MDC, may be made available to the public. If you do not wish to have your email address or other contact details made public, please include a clear statement to that effect in your email or comment; and
video footage of Council meetings that are intended for broadcast or to be otherwise available for public viewing.

What information do we make public?

We are required by law to make certain information that we hold available to the public. For example:

the Building Act 2004 requires us to maintain a property file about each property in Manawatū and make this available to the public. This file may include personal information, for example in building consent applications.
The Resource Management Act 1991 requires us to make copies of resource consents and its associated information publicly available.
The Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 requires us to make publicly available the names and postal addresses of property owners.
The local electoral roll must be available for inspection in certain circumstances (such as during a local body election), under the Local Electoral Act 2001.

Please note that there are cases where your information may be withheld from publication where there is a genuine safety concern. For example, there are provisions to request that your details be transferred to the “unpublished Electoral Roll” which is not available for public inspection (e.g., if you have a sensitive occupation, such as being a Police Officer). The Electoral Commission maintains both rolls and can assist you with this application. Please contact us at privacy@mdc.govt.nz for further information or to request the withholding of your information or to request the withholding of your information.

Keeping your information secure and accurate

We take reasonable steps to make sure personal information is:

protected against loss, damage, misuse and unauthorised access – we give restricted access to individuals who need personal information to help us perform our duties and obligations
accurate, up to date, complete, and not misleading.

How long will we keep your 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 information retention and disposal schedule or applicable statutory requirements.

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, for example a building consent.

What if you do not want to provide the personal information requested?

If you do not provide us with all of 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, process payments or otherwise deal with any requests or enquiries you have submitted.

In some circumstances, failure to provide information when requested may be unlawful, and/or result in legal consequences. These circumstances and the potential consequences will be explained to you when your personal information is collected.

What are your rights?

You have the right to know what information we hold about you, to request a copy and to request that we correct your information if inaccurate. Your rights of access to and correction of any personal information we hold about you are subject to the procedures set out in the Privacy Act.

Accessing your information or obtaining a copy of your information:

You may request confirmation of whether we hold any personal information about you, and request access to your personal information that we hold by emailing privacy@mdc.govt.nz. If you request to access your information, we take steps to confirm your identity. This might involve asking you some security questions and checking your identity documents. Once we have verified your identity, we will provide you with such confirmation and access unless one of the grounds for refusal to do so under the Privacy Act applies.

Updating and correcting your information

If you think the information we hold about you is inaccurate, you may request changes to your personal information. If we agree that your personal information is to be corrected, we will provide you with an amended record of your personal information if requested. If we do not agree that the information needs to be corrected, we will make note of your request on the disputed information as a "statement of correction".

If you are unsatisfied with our response to any privacy-related concern you may have, you can contact the Privacy Commissioner:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner
PO Box 10-094
Wellington, New Zealand
Phone: 04 474 7590
Enquiries Line: 0800 803 909
Fax: 04 474 7595
Email: enquiries@privacy.org.nz