Privacy policy.

Who is responsible

This is the privacy policy for neilbentley.co.uk, a personal website operated by Neil Bentley. For questions about information handled through this site, email office@neilbentley.co.uk.

My roles with the council, charities, school governance and business are separate from one another. If an enquiry needs to be dealt with by another organisation, that organisation may also have its own privacy policy.

Information collected

• When you visit: the hosting service may record technical details such as your IP address, browser, pages requested and time of access so the site can run securely.
• When you email: I receive your email address and any name, contact details or other information you choose to include.
• When you comment on a post: WordPress collects the details entered in the comment form, your IP address and browser information for moderation and spam prevention. Public comments may display your chosen name and, if enabled, an avatar.

There is currently no contact form, chatbot, newsletter sign-up or public account registration on this website.

How information is used

Technical information is used to operate, protect and maintain the website. Comments are used to manage discussion and prevent spam. Email information is used to read and respond to your enquiry and, where necessary, arrange appropriate follow-up.

For routine website operation, comment moderation and general enquiries, the lawful basis is my legitimate interests in running the site and communicating with people who contact me. Where an enquiry is handled as part of my work as an elected representative, the public task basis may apply where that work falls within my official functions. I will only use information that is needed for the relevant purpose.

When information is shared

IONOS provides the website hosting. If your enquiry needs another organisation to act, I may pass on the details needed to respond—for example to Shropshire Council, a relevant public body, charity or other organisation connected with your enquiry. Each recipient is responsible for how it handles information it receives.

WordPress may use spam detection for comments. If comment avatars are shown, an anonymised string derived from a commenter’s email address may be sent to Gravatar; see Automattic’s privacy policy. I do not use enquiries sent to this site as a mailing list.

Political affiliation

I am a Liberal Democrat councillor, a member of the Liberal Democrats and an executive member of the Telford & Wrekin Liberal Democrats. This is my personal website and is not operated by the Liberal Democrats nationally. The views expressed here are mine and do not necessarily represent the views of the Liberal Democrats nationally.

This personal website is not an official Liberal Democrat website or an approved channel for handling party enquiries. If you contact me about a Liberal Democrat matter, I will normally direct you to the appropriate official party contact or website. I will not pass your personal information to the Liberal Democrats through this website unless you specifically ask me to forward it and I have told you who will receive it.

Comments and messages sent through this website should be respectful and must not contain discriminatory or abusive content. Messages that breach this standard will be removed.

Cookies and external services

WordPress uses cookies needed for administration. If you leave a comment and choose to save your details, a cookie can remember your name, email address and website for up to one year so you do not have to enter them again. The current public pages do not use advertising cookies or third-party analytics scripts.

This site links to third-party websites, including Shropshire Council and parish council services, FixMyStreet, West Mercia Police, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube. If you follow one of these links, the destination site may use cookies or other storage and access technologies, and its own privacy and cookie policies will apply. I am not responsible for how those sites handle information.

The site loads DM Sans and Manrope through Google Fonts. When a page loads, your browser connects to Google to obtain the font files. That connection includes technical information such as your IP address and browser details. Google handles this information under its privacy policy.

The Councillor page currently displays the Shropshire Council logo from Shropshire Council’s website. Loading that image creates a connection to the council’s website, which may receive similar technical request information. No social-media feed or video is currently embedded on this website.

How long information is kept

I keep email enquiries for as long as needed to respond and handle reasonable follow-up, and longer where a legal or accountability reason requires it. Comments and their associated details remain in WordPress while the comment is held for moderation or displayed on the site, unless removed sooner. Hosting logs are kept in line with IONOS’s applicable retention arrangements.

If you want to know how long information about a particular enquiry will be kept, please ask using the address below.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you can ask for access to your personal information, correction of inaccurate information, deletion, or a limit on its use. You can also object to certain uses of your information. These rights are not absolute and may depend on the lawful basis and the information involved.

Contact and updates

Email office@neilbentley.co.uk if you have a question about this policy or how an enquiry has been handled. I will review this page when the website’s features or the way information is handled changes.