Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 5 September 2026

1. Who we are

Planning Alerts ("we", "us", "our") is a UK-based planning intelligence platform operating at planningalerts.app. We provide access to publicly available planning application data sourced from UK local planning authorities under the Open Government Licence v3.0. For privacy enquiries, contact us at privacy@planningalerts.app.

2. What data we collect

Account data

When you sign in via Manus OAuth, we receive your name and email address from your identity provider. We store this to identify your account and send you alert notifications.

Alert subscriptions

When you subscribe to planning alerts, we store your email address, postcode, alert radius, and notification frequency. This data is used solely to send you relevant planning application notifications.

Watchlist addresses

Saved addresses you add to your watchlist are stored against your account and used to personalise your search results and alerts.

Usage data

If you accept optional analytics cookies, we use Google Analytics and our anonymised analytics service to understand page use. We do not send email addresses, postcodes, saved locations, or search terms to Google Analytics.

Planning application data

We do not store applicant names, agent names, or any personal data from planning applications. We only store the application reference, address, description, status, and dates — all of which are public record.

3. Legal basis for processing (UK GDPR)

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

ContractProcessing your account data and alert subscriptions to provide the service you have requested.
ConsentOptional analytics cookies are used only after you accept them, to help improve the platform.
Legal obligationRetaining records as required by UK law.

4. How we use your data

We use your data to:

Send you planning application alert emails at your chosen frequency
Display your saved watchlist addresses in the dashboard
Authenticate your account and maintain your session
Improve the platform through optional, anonymised usage analytics

We do not sell your data, share it with third parties for marketing purposes, or use it for any purpose other than providing the Planning Alerts service.

5. Data retention

We retain your account data and alert subscriptions for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account or unsubscribe from all alerts, we will delete your personal data within 30 days. Anonymised analytics data is retained for up to 2 years.

6. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Rectification — correct inaccurate personal data
Erasure — request deletion of your personal data
Portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format
Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests
Restriction — restrict processing in certain circumstances

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@planningalerts.app. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Cookies

We use a session cookie to maintain your login state. If you accept optional cookies, Google Analytics may set analytics cookies to measure page use. We do not enable advertising signals or personalisation, and you can decline optional cookies in the cookie banner.

8. Data security

Your data is stored in an encrypted database hosted in the UK/EU. All connections to Planning Alerts use HTTPS/TLS. We do not store payment card data — all payments are processed by Stripe, which is PCI-DSS compliant.

9. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes by email. The date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last updated.