Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Planning Signal (planningsignal.co.uk) is operated by Planning Signal. We are the data controller for your personal information. If you have questions about how we handle your data, contact us at [email protected].

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

Account information: When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and optionally your home postcode. If you register a professional profile (architect or contractor), we also collect your business name, address, contact details, qualifications, and portfolio information.

Payment information: If you subscribe to a paid plan, payment is processed by Stripe. We do not store your full card number, CVV, or bank details on our servers. Stripe provides us with a token, your card's last four digits, and billing status. Stripe's privacy policy governs how they handle your payment data.

Usage data: We collect information about how you use the service, including search queries, postcode searches, pages visited, saved searches, watched applications, and feature usage. This helps us provide and improve the service.

Technical data: We collect IP addresses, browser type, device information, and referring URLs through server logs and analytics tools.

Communications: If you contact us by email, we retain a copy of the correspondence.

3. Legal Basis for Processing

Under UK data protection law (UK GDPR), we process your personal data on the following legal bases:

Contract performance: Processing your account data, delivering search results, managing subscriptions, and sending email alerts you have configured — these are necessary to provide the service you have signed up for.
Legitimate interests: Analysing usage patterns to improve the service, maintaining security, preventing abuse, and sending occasional service-related communications (e.g. important changes to the service). Our legitimate interests do not override your rights and freedoms.
Consent: Where we rely on consent (e.g. optional marketing communications), you can withdraw consent at any time.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data to:

Provide the Planning Signal service, including search, tracking, alerts, and data exports
Send email notifications for saved searches and watched applications
Process payments and manage subscriptions
Maintain and improve the service
Respond to support requests and communications
Detect and prevent abuse, fraud, or misuse
Analyse service usage to inform product development

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

5. Email Communications

If you save a search or watch an application, we will send you email alerts when relevant planning activity occurs. These alerts are a core part of the service and are enabled automatically when you save or watch.

You can unsubscribe from alerts at any time by removing your saved searches and watched applications. We may also send occasional service-related emails (e.g. important changes, security notices) which are necessary for the operation of your account.

6. Third-Party Services

We share personal data with the following third-party services, which act as data processors on our behalf or as independent controllers:

Stripe (payments) — processes subscription payments. Stripe is an independent data controller for payment data. See Stripe's Privacy Policy.
Resend (email delivery) — delivers transactional and alert emails on our behalf.
Google Analytics (analytics) — collects anonymised usage data to help us understand how the service is used. See Google's Privacy Policy.
Hetzner (hosting) — our servers are hosted in the EU by Hetzner Online GmbH.

We do not share your personal data with advertisers or data brokers.

7. Cookies

We use the following types of cookies:

Session cookies: Essential cookies that maintain your login state. These are HTTP-only and secure. They expire when you log out or after a period of inactivity.
Analytics cookies: Google Analytics cookies (_ga, _gid) that help us understand site usage. These collect anonymised data and can be blocked by your browser or a cookie consent tool without affecting the service.

We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies.

8. Data Storage, Security, and Retention

Your data is stored on servers hosted by Hetzner in the EU. We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including:

Passwords hashed using bcrypt (never stored in plain text)
Sessions managed with HTTP-only, secure cookies signed with HMAC
Database access restricted and encrypted in transit
Regular security updates and monitoring

Retention: We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will delete your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal or regulatory purposes. Usage logs and analytics data are retained in anonymised form.

9. International Data Transfers

Some of our third-party processors (Stripe, Resend, Google) are based in the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses or the processor's participation in recognised data protection frameworks.

10. Professional Profiles

If you create a professional profile (architect or contractor), the information you provide — including your business name, location, contact details, qualifications, and portfolio — will be publicly visible on the Planning Signal website. This is necessary for the profile feature to function.

You can edit or remove your profile information at any time. If you wish to have your profile removed entirely, contact us at [email protected].

11. Your Rights

Under UK data protection law (UK GDPR), you have the following rights:

Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data (subject to legal obligations)
Restriction: Request that we limit how we process your data
Portability: Request your data in a structured, machine-readable format
Objection: Object to processing based on legitimate interests
Withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within one month.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been violated. The ICO can be contacted at ico.org.uk.

12. Children

Planning Signal is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child under 16, we will delete it promptly.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via the email address associated with your account or by a prominent notice on the service. The "Last updated" date at the bottom of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.

14. Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy or your personal data, please contact us at [email protected].

Last updated: March 2026