Privacy Statement

Your privacy is important to us at MDC. 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 your 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 business, the Council may occasionally update this Privacy Statement.

What Personal Information does Council Collect?

We need to collect personal information for a number of reasons, however, this will only be necessary for a function or activity of the council. The Sites can be viewed and web feeds can be subscribed to without the need to disclose any personal information to us.

The personal information we collect may include your name, date of birth, address, email address, email correspondence, 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.

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 MDC directly.

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.
  • Appear in any images and audio from Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) or body cameras, as described below.

Why do we collect your personal information?

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 using. 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 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 (eg Windows XP, Mac OS X)
  • The type of web browser you use (eg Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox)
  • the make and model number of mobile device used to visit our site

What information do we collect from CCTV?

We use Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in particular areas to monitor passenger and traffic movements, secure facilities such as libraries and recreation centres, and monitor public places 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 viewed by authorised people in accordance with the purpose 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.

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 our 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 related 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 Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, Building Act 2004 and Resource Management Act 1991.
  • 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 parking 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. Submissions are made available in full (including the submitter’s name and contact details) on our website and at our main office;
  • any person, 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 and correspondence 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 Marlborough 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 consent and its associated information publicly available.
  • The Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 requires us to make publicly available our “complete rating information database”, which includes personal information of property owners.
  • The local electoral roll must be available for inspection in certain circumstances, under the Local Electoral Act 2001.
  • All submissions made to us during a special consultative procedure or other consultative procedure (for example submissions on proposed bylaws and the long-term plan) are usually made available to the public under the Local Government Act 2002.

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, including submissions you make in relation to bylaws, annual plans, and district or regional planning instruments.

 

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

If you do not provide us with all of the personal information about you 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 or not we hold any personal information about you and you may request access to your personal information that we hold. 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'll make note of your request on the disputed information as a "statement of correction".

Accessing and correcting your personal information

You may request confirmation of whether or not we hold any personal information or if the information needs updating or correcting by emailing [email protected]

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 (from Auckland): 302 8655
Enquiries Line (from outside Auckland): 0800 803 909
Fax: 04 474 7595
Email: [email protected]

 

This notice was last updated June 2023.