Privacy Policy
Last updated: 9 November 2026
HertsPartners and The Stevenage App are operated by 1STKLASS LTD, company number 16619410, registered office: Suite 468, 80a Ruskin Ave, Welling, Greater London, DA16 3QQ. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and protect personal information when you use our websites, iPhone and Android apps, and connected services.
We may collect information you provide when you register, log in, submit a business listing, apply for a paid membership, submit a local update, event, job vacancy, offer, or community or volunteering listing, use the CV Creator tool, contact us, or use forms on the website. This may include your name, business name, email address, phone number, website link, business information, listing content, CV content, account details, payment-related details processed by our payment provider, and messages sent to us.
We use this information to operate the HertsPartners directory and related features (including Local Updates, What's On, HertsJobs, Offers, the Community group and Volunteering listings), manage user accounts and paid memberships, review and publish business listings and other submissions, provide the CV Creator tool, respond to enquiries, send service or newsletter communications where you have agreed to receive them, improve the website, prevent misuse, and keep appropriate business records.
We may also collect basic technical information such as IP address, browser type, device information and website usage data. Cookies and similar technologies may be used to support website functionality, analytics and user preferences. Please see our Cookie Policy for more information.
We do not sell personal information. We may share information only where necessary with service providers who help operate the website and its features, including: website hosting providers; Stripe, our payment processor, for handling paid membership and subscription payments; Brevo, our email and newsletter provider, for sending service and (where you have opted in) newsletter communications; OpenAI, which powers the optional CV Creator tool and processes the CV content you choose to submit to it, and which helps us write, fact-check and illustrate local news posts (see below); Apple, Meta (Facebook) and Google, if you choose their sign-in services — we receive the account identifier and the name, email address or profile image that the chosen provider makes available with your permission. Apple may provide a private relay email address. We use these details to create and manage your account and do not receive your Apple, Facebook or Google password; security tools; analytics providers; legal or professional advisers; or authorities where required by law. Some of these providers may process information outside the UK. Where this happens, we rely on legally recognised safeguards, such as the UK's International Data Transfer Addendum or an adequacy decision, to protect your information.
We keep personal information only for as long as needed for the purpose it was collected, including managing accounts, listings, memberships, enquiries, business records, legal obligations and dispute handling. Retention periods vary depending on the type of information and the feature it relates to, and are reviewed regularly.
We process your information on the basis of: your consent (for example, for the newsletter or the CV Creator tool); the need to perform a contract with you (for example, a paid membership); our legitimate interests in operating and improving the HertsPartners platform; and, where relevant, our legal obligations.
If you signed in using Apple, Facebook or Google and want that connection and its associated data removed, see our Data Deletion page or contact us using the email above.
You have rights under UK data protection law, including the right to request access to your personal information, ask for inaccurate information to be corrected, request deletion in certain circumstances, object to certain processing, restrict processing, and withdraw consent where consent is used.
To contact us about privacy matters, email: privacy@hertspartners.co.uk
If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, you can contact us first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
This policy may be updated from time to time.
Insurance, complaints and legal claims
Where necessary to arrange appropriate business insurance, investigate an incident, handle a complaint or establish, exercise or defend a legal claim, we may use relevant contact details, correspondence, contracts, transaction records and security or incident information. We may share the information needed for that purpose with insurance brokers, insurers, claims handlers and legal or other professional advisers. We rely on our legitimate interests in managing risk, resolving disputes and protecting legal rights, or a legal obligation where one applies. If a legal claim requires special-category information, we use it only where an appropriate additional legal condition applies. We restrict access and retain relevant records only for as long as needed for the matter and applicable legal duties. You can contact privacy@hertspartners.co.uk about this processing. This paragraph explains possible data handling; it does not confirm that any particular insurance policy or activity is covered.
Local news and automated tools
We use automated tools, including OpenAI, to help write, fact-check and illustrate local news posts from public sources such as council, police, NHS and weather notices. Those sources can sometimes name people. We only use what the original publisher has made public, we credit and link the original source, and stories on serious or sensitive subjects are held for a person to decide before they are published. Illustrations are abstract designs and never show real people. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in providing a reliable local information service. If you are named in a story and want it corrected or removed, contact privacy@hertspartners.co.uk.
Event Parking (Knebworth 2027)
If you reserve, book or host a parking space through HertsPartners Event Parking, we also process the following.
Drivers: your name, email address and phone number if you give it; the show date, number and type of vehicles and, where asked, the vehicle registration; your reservation and booking history; and messages with hosts or with us. Payments are taken by Stripe; we receive the payment status and reference, never your full card details.
Hosts: your name or business name, contact details, the address and description of the space, parking times and rules, listing photos you upload, and your booking and payout history. Payouts are set up with Stripe, which verifies your identity and holds your bank details; we do not store them. UK rules for digital platforms require us to collect, and report to HMRC each year, the earnings of people who sell through us together with their details: for an individual, full name, date of birth, home address and National Insurance number; for a business, its legal name, registered address and company number or UTR. We keep these encrypted and use them only for that reporting.
Who sees what: the exact address of a space is shared with a driver once they have paid for it; before that, the public map shows an approximate area only. Hosts who sell as a business must show their business contact details before booking, and these may include an address. A host sees the name, vehicle details and arrival information of the drivers booked into their space. We share information with Stripe to take payments and pay hosts, with HMRC where the law requires it, and with our email provider to send reservation and booking emails.
Why we use it: to provide the reservation and booking you asked for (contract); to meet tax reporting and record-keeping duties (legal obligation); and to keep the marketplace safe, prevent fraud and resolve disputes (legitimate interests).
How long we keep it: unpaid reservations are deleted within 12 months after the last 2027 show date. Records of paid bookings and payments are kept for six years after the end of the company financial year they belong to, as company accounting rules require. The details we must hold for HMRC digital-platform reporting are kept for five years after the end of the reporting period they relate to. After that they are deleted or anonymised.
Your rights described above apply to Event Parking information too. Contact privacy@hertspartners.co.uk.
Maps and website hosting
Our website and app use OpenStreetMap map tiles to display local places and signals. When a map loads, your browser or app connects to servers used by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF). OSMF receives network and request information, such as your IP address, device or browser information and the map tiles requested. Its service uses an international content-delivery network. OSMF acts as an independent data controller for that processing. For details and your rights, see the OSMF Privacy Policy. A map pin you choose describes the place or incident you submit; it is not an automatic reading of your device's GPS location.
IONOS hosts our website and database and provides technical operation, security and backup services. We use these services to operate and protect HertsPartners. Backups can contain earlier copies of account and service data. Removing data from the active service does not immediately remove every backup copy. If we restore a backup, we must reapply relevant erasure and suppression decisions before using the restored data. We can explain any applicable retention or restriction when responding to a data-rights request.
The Stevenage App: accounts, local content and optional notifications
You can browse the public resident areas as a guest. An account is needed for personal activity, saving account-linked information, claiming member offers, submitting content and viewing business proposals. Creating an account does not subscribe you to marketing. The app offers account deletion in Account; you can also use our data deletion page or email privacy@hertspartners.co.uk. We may retain limited records where required for accounting, a contract, fraud prevention or a legal dispute, and explain any applicable exception.
Saved events, optional Discover topic/area choices and event-reminder settings are kept on your phone. They work for guests and do not automatically synchronise with an account or opt you into marketing. Removing an event cancels its scheduled reminder. Event reminders use the saved start time, are scheduled locally through your phone’s notification system and do not require an Expo delivery address. Check the original source for changed dates or cancellations. You can remove saved events, switch reminders off, reset Discover choices, or clear the app’s local data using your device settings. Device backups may retain app data according to your device-backup settings.
Where notifications are available in your installed version, you choose the categories you want and separately decide whether to allow offers and promotions. Marketing is initially off. We record your category choices, consent time, quiet hours, optional job-interest keywords, installation identifier, account reference, platform and notification address. We use these to deliver the categories you request, prevent duplicate messages and stop delivery after sign-out, account changes or withdrawn consent. Declining notifications does not stop ordinary browsing. Turn a category off and save in Notification settings, or disable notifications in your phone settings.
Notification delivery uses Expo Push Service, Apple Push Notification service for iPhone, and Firebase Cloud Messaging from Google for Android. They process a delivery address, technical routing information and the notification payload. Payloads use a short generic message, a content reference, an account reference and an expiry; identifying community-appeal details are fetched inside the signed-in app from the current approved record. Delivery is not guaranteed. We do not request continuous or background GPS location for this feature. Our basis for the optional delivery choices is your consent; security and abuse prevention also rely on our legitimate interests.
Our notification system removes inactive installation records after 90 days without a registration refresh, removes completed delivery-attempt records after 30 days, and removes the device registrations associated with a deleted account. Expired, resolved or withdrawn appeals stop further delivery and no longer return their identifying text through the notification detail service. The active registration address is encrypted in our database. Minimal revocation records may remain until the inactivity cleanup so a delayed request cannot reactivate an older account. Provider logs and backups follow the relevant provider’s retention arrangements.
For verified community appeals we use the current public police source, a source date and an explicit editorial approval. The source may include personal information about a person named in the appeal. We use only the approved public details needed for the local appeal, limit their active period and provide a correction/removal route at privacy@hertspartners.co.uk. These notices are not an emergency service and must not be used to publish private sightings or a recovered person’s location.
Business proposals, payments and sponsor artwork
We process the business and contact details you submit, your chosen page and website/app coverage, messages, proposal and contract versions, acceptance and approval records, payment references and artwork to review and fulfil your request. The account owner can see their own proposals; authorised staff can review them. Signing in restricts access but does not prevent another authorised member from copying or sharing information they can view.
Stripe handles hosted website payments and saved payment-method authorisations. Apple or Google handles eligible purchases made through its app billing system. We receive the identifiers and status needed to recognise the purchase and supply the service; we do not receive full card details. A saved payment method alone is not evidence that a sponsorship instalment has been paid.
Approved sponsor names, artwork and destinations are intended for public display on the agreed pages. Uploaded artwork is stored as website media and may be accessible by its media URL before the advert is approved; do not include confidential information. We keep contractual, invoice and payment evidence for the applicable accounting and legal retention period, normally six years after the relevant company financial year. Other unsuccessful enquiries and artwork are kept only while needed to handle the enquiry, any agreed service or a dispute.
Transfers, choices and contacting us
Some sign-in, notification, payment, email and hosting providers operate internationally. Where the UK international-transfer rules apply, we must have the required adequacy arrangement or appropriate safeguards, including any required UK transfer terms and assessment. Contact privacy@hertspartners.co.uk for information about the arrangement relevant to your data or to request a copy of applicable safeguards. We do not claim that an optional feature is active merely because it is described in this notice.
Our Cookie Policy explains website storage and consent choices. Service messages about an account or order are separate from marketing. You can withdraw optional marketing consent without closing your account. You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.