Privacy & data protection.

Who we are

Hensey Consulting is the trading name of Matthew Hensey, a UK-based sole trader specialising in rights of light, daylight and sunlight consultancy. We are responsible for deciding how personal information submitted to us is used and, for the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we act as the data controller.

For privacy enquiries, requests concerning your information or complaints about how it has been handled, please email Matt@HenseyConsulting.co.uk or telephone 07394 091057.

What information we collect

When you contact us, request a CPD session or submit a website enquiry, we may collect your name, organisation or professional role, email address, telephone number, areas of interest, project stage, and the information you choose to include in your message. For enquiries concerning neighbouring developments, this may also include property or development addresses, postcodes, planning references, details of correspondence received and the nature of your concerns. We also assign an enquiry reference to help manage correspondence.

Where relevant to the matter you have raised, we may consult publicly accessible planning registers and property records. Basic technical information, such as an internet protocol (IP) address and access or security logs, may be processed by the services used to operate and protect the website.

How and why we use information

We use your information to review and respond to your enquiry, arrange a requested introductory consultation or CPD session, understand a proposed development or potential rights of light issue, consider relevant project information, prepare a scope of services or fee proposal, and maintain appropriate records of correspondence. We may also process limited technical data to keep the website secure and prevent misuse.

Our lawful bases under the UK GDPR will depend on the circumstances:

• Steps before entering a contract: where you ask us to discuss or prepare a proposal for services.
• Legitimate interests: where it is reasonable and necessary to respond to enquiries, manage professional correspondence, administer our consultancy and protect our website. We consider the impact on individuals before relying on this basis.
• Legal obligations: where we must retain or disclose particular information to comply with applicable law.

We do not automatically add people who enquire to a marketing mailing list. We do not make decisions about enquiries solely through automated profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

Who we may share information with

We use trusted service providers to operate the website, process and securely store enquiry submissions, and deliver email communications. Where necessary and appropriate for an enquiry or subsequent project, information may also be shared with professional advisers or specialist consultants involved in providing the requested services, subject to appropriate confidentiality arrangements. We do not sell personal information.

Some service providers may store or process information outside the United Kingdom. Where an international transfer is restricted by UK data protection law, the transfer must be covered by an applicable adequacy arrangement or appropriate safeguards. You may contact us for further details about relevant providers and safeguards.

How long we keep information

We aim to retain enquiry details only while they are needed. As a general policy, enquiries that do not lead to an instructed project are retained for up to 12 months after our last substantive contact, unless there is a good reason to retain them longer. Where services are instructed, relevant project records and associated correspondence are generally retained for six years after the project concludes, or longer where a legal, regulatory or professional obligation, or the management of a claim, requires it.

We periodically review records and arrange for information that is no longer needed to be securely deleted, including stored website submissions where appropriate.

Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to request access to your personal information, ask for inaccurate information to be corrected, request erasure or restriction of processing, or request a copy in a portable format. You also have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests. These rights are subject to relevant legal conditions and exceptions.

You can contact us at Matt@HenseyConsulting.co.uk to exercise your rights or raise a concern. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection regulator: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Cookies and similar technologies

We do not currently use advertising cookies or optional website analytics trackers. The website uses basic technical functionality to display its pages and process enquiries, and our service providers may use strictly necessary security or operational technologies. Basic server access and security logging may also take place.

If we introduce non-essential cookies or similar tracking technologies, we will update this notice and provide an appropriate choice or obtain consent where required under UK law.

Keeping your information safe

We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information entrusted to us and restrict its use to legitimate business purposes. Please avoid putting passwords, payment-card information, medical information or other unnecessary sensitive personal details in the general enquiry forms.

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice if our services, systems or legal obligations change. Any revised version will be published here with an updated date.