Council has certain obligations in relation to the personal information we collect from people who send an email or use our website. 

Collecting Personal Information

Council has various functions under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, the Local Government Act 1993 and other relevant information and personal information is collected to enable Council to perform those functions.

As part of delivering our services, your information makes it easy for us to identify and communicate with you.

How is personal information defined?

This is defined in the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIPA) to be "information or an opinion about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion".

Personal information collected by Council can include your name, email address and any other information you provide.

If you are aged 16 years or under, you need to obtain your parent or guardian’s consent before you provide personal information to this website.

How do we collect, hold and protect your information?

Council collects personal information through emails you send us and forms you complete on our website. Council will store this information for future use unless you advise us in writing that you do not want this to occur. When we collect or hold personal information, we are bound to the privacy legislation contained within the PPIPA.

There are forms on our website that ask for personal information. They include statements on whether the supply of that information is mandatory or voluntary and the effect for you if the information is not provided.

Who uses your information?

Only Northern Beaches Council staff or authorised representatives are allowed to use your information and only as part of delivering services to you or in communication with you. Council has strict guidelines for staff about how customer information is accessed, stored and used. Please see our Code of Conduct for more information.

You can also view Council's Privacy Policy.

Under the PPIPA, other agencies (particularly law enforcement agencies) may also have the right to gain access to personal information held by Council. Some agencies (particularly law enforcement agencies) have legal authority to inspect our Internet Service Provider's logs and obtain your address if required for an official investigation or enquiry.

Council records are also available for public inspection and copying, including under the Local Government Act 1993 and the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009. Visit the Information Access page on our website to see which records you can access.

Are my details automatically updated when I send an email?

Council will automatically update your personal information in our database with the information you have provided in your email. This information may include, but is not limited to, email, address and telephone number.

If you do not want your personal information updated in this way, please email Council’s Information Management Duty Officer.

Please note any changes made to your personal information from your email, will not update Council’s rates database. Update your rates personal information

Can I access or change the information you have in relation to me?

You can request access to the personal information Council holds that relates to you. You can also ask for it to be changed to ensure that the information is, among other things, accurate.

Email our Information Management Duty Officer to request any changes to your personal information.

What else is collected when I use the website?

Council is always looking to improve our website to ensure it provides the highest levels of visitor experience. As such we capture the following information for statistical purposes:

  • Address of your server
  • Top-level domain from which you accessed the Internet (such as com, org, gov, edu, au, nz)
  • Type of browser used
  • Date and time of your visit to the site
  • Pages visited and the documents downloaded
  • Links followed to come to and leave the site
  • Any other information that is recorded.

This information is used to create reports to tell us the number of visitors to the site, what areas are most and least visited, and technical design information such as broken links.