Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Around Town is operated by COZQ Limited ("Around Town", "COZQ", "we", "us" or "our"), a company registered in England and Wales.

For the purposes of UK data protection law, COZQ Limited is the data controller for personal information processed through Around Town unless otherwise stated.

• Company number: 16592649
• VAT number: 519163195
• Registered office: 20 Wenlock Road, London, England, N1 7GU
• Product website: aroundtown.uk
• Operator website: cozq.com
• Privacy enquiries: [email protected]

2. Information we collect

Account information

When you create or use an Around Town account, we may collect:

• Your first name and chosen public display name.
• Your email address or authentication identifier.
• Information supplied through Sign in with Apple or another supported login provider.
• Your account status, preferences and settings.
• The Towns and Neighbourhoods you join or follow.

Location and postcode information

Around Town uses location information to connect you with relevant communities and local information.

We may process:

• A postcode you enter.
• An approximate device location if you choose to grant location permission.
• Your selected Town and Neighbourhood.
• Coordinates attached to community reports or map pins you intentionally submit.

Community content

When you use community features, we may process content you provide, including:

• Posts.
• Comments and replies.
• Reactions.
• Photos and videos.
• Marketplace listings.
• Events.
• Business recommendations.
• Community Patrol reports.
• Planning discussions.
• Reports submitted to moderators.

Content you intentionally publish to a community may be visible to other members of that community.

Community Patrol information

If you use features such as Pothole Patrol, Bin Patrol, Street Light Patrol, Graffiti Patrol or other community reporting tools, we may collect:

• The type of issue reported.
• An approximate or selected map location.
• Road or place information.
• Description and status information.
• Photos you choose to upload.
• Community confirmation or resolution votes.

Verification information

If you request Verified Resident status, we may collect your mobile telephone number and verification status.

Verification information is not publicly displayed unless the app shows a verification badge or status.

Local service preferences

If you choose to personalise local alerts, we may store information such as:

• Your broadband provider.
• Your mobile network.
• Your water provider.
• Your electricity network.
• Notification categories you have enabled.

Providing these preferences is optional.

Business information

Business owners may provide business contact details, photos, opening hours, websites, social links, descriptions, offers and verification information.

Technical information

We may automatically collect limited technical information needed to operate and secure the service, including:

• Device and platform type.
• App version.
• Push-notification token.
• IP address.
• Diagnostic and error information.
• Security and abuse-prevention events.

3. How we use your information

We use personal information to:

• Create and manage your account.
• Connect you to relevant Towns and Neighbourhoods.
• Display community posts and discussions.
• Show local businesses, places and events.
• Provide local weather, flood, road, planning and service information.
• Provide personalised alerts and push notifications.
• Operate Community Patrol reporting features.
• Process resident and business verification requests.
• Moderate content and respond to reports.
• Detect spam, abuse, fraud and prohibited content.
• Maintain the safety and security of Around Town.
• Improve the app and diagnose technical problems.
• Comply with applicable legal obligations.

4. Our lawful bases

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on:

Contract

Where processing is necessary to provide Around Town and the services you request.

Legitimate interests

Where necessary for our legitimate interests in operating, securing, moderating and improving Around Town, provided those interests do not override your rights and interests.

Consent

Where you actively choose to grant permissions or receive certain communications, such as device location access or optional notifications where consent is required.

You can withdraw consent at any time through your device settings, Around Town settings or by contacting us.

Legal obligation

Where processing is necessary for us to comply with applicable law or regulatory requirements.

5. Public information and community visibility

Around Town is a community service. Information you intentionally post into a community may be visible to other members.

This may include:

• Your chosen display name.
• Your profile image if you add one.
• Your Town or Neighbourhood association where shown.
• Your posts, comments and reactions.
• Photos and videos you publish.
• Community Patrol reports.
• Marketplace listings.
• Business reviews or recommendations.

Do not publish information you do not want other members to see.

6. Information from third-party and public sources

Around Town may combine community information with information from public, licensed or third-party sources.

These may include services providing:

• Local business and place information.
• Google Maps and Google Places information.
• Food hygiene information.
• Weather information.
• Flood and river information.
• Road and transport information.
• Planning application information.
• Population and demographic statistics.
• Crime statistics.
• Postcode and geographic information.
• Public authority information and alerts.

Where personal data is obtained from another source, we process it in accordance with applicable data protection law and the relevant source licence or terms.

7. Third-party services

We use specialist service providers to operate Around Town. Depending on which features are enabled, these may include:

• Supabase for authentication, databases and backend infrastructure.
• Bunny.net for media storage, content delivery and video services.
• Google for Google Places, Google Maps and supported authentication or location-related services.
• Apple for Sign in with Apple, Apple platform services and push-notification infrastructure.
• Expo for application infrastructure and push-notification delivery.

We may also use infrastructure, analytics, security and communications providers where reasonably necessary to operate the service.

These providers may process information on our behalf according to their contractual and legal obligations.

8. Push notifications

If you enable notifications, Around Town may send alerts about information relevant to communities you belong to.

Examples include:

• Community replies and mentions.
• Events.
• Weather warnings.
• Flood warnings.
• Power or local service disruption.
• Road and transport disruption.
• Planning applications.
• Community Patrol reports.
• Council or verified local information.

You can control notification categories in Around Town settings and can disable device notifications through your operating system.

9. Photos, videos and location metadata

Photos and videos may contain metadata such as location or device information.

Where technically appropriate, Around Town may remove or reduce embedded metadata before storing or displaying uploaded media.

You should avoid uploading photographs containing sensitive information, private documents, vehicle registration details, house numbers or identifiable people unless it is appropriate and lawful to do so.

10. Moderation and safety

We may process posts, comments, images, account information and reports for community safety and moderation.

This may include:

• Automated blocked-language detection.
• Spam and abuse detection.
• Member reports.
• Moderator review.
• Temporary restrictions.
• Removal of content that breaches our rules.

Automated systems may assist moderators, but Around Town does not intend to make solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects on members.

11. Who we share information with

We may share personal information with:

• Service providers acting on our behalf.
• Members of communities where you intentionally publish content.
• Moderators where necessary to investigate reports.
• Public authorities where required by law.
• Professional advisers where necessary.
• A purchaser or successor if our business is restructured or transferred.

We do not sell your personal information.

12. International transfers

Some of our service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take steps required by applicable UK data protection law, including relying on adequacy regulations or appropriate contractual safeguards where necessary.

13. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including legal, security and dispute-resolution requirements.

Our general approach is:

• Account information is retained while your account remains active.
• Published community content is retained until deleted, removed or no longer required.
• Deleted content may remain in backups for a limited period before being overwritten.
• Verification and security records may be retained for a reasonable period to prevent abuse and meet legal obligations.
• Push-notification tokens are removed or deactivated when they are no longer valid or required.
• Technical logs are retained only for the period reasonably required for diagnostics, security and fraud prevention.

14. Account deletion

You may request deletion of your Around Town account through the app where that functionality is available, or by contacting:

[email protected]

When an account is deleted, we will delete or anonymise personal information that we no longer need, subject to information we are required or permitted to retain for legal, security, fraud prevention or dispute-resolution purposes.

Content that has become part of a wider community discussion may in some circumstances be anonymised rather than deleted where lawful and appropriate.

15. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, UK data protection law may give you rights including:

To exercise a privacy right, contact: [email protected]

We may need to verify your identity before completing certain requests.

16. Your right to object

17. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we process your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the UK's data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
United Kingdom

Visit: ico.org.uk

18. Children

Around Town is a community service and is not intended for children below the minimum age specified by Around Town for account registration.

We do not knowingly seek to collect personal information from children who are not permitted to create an account.

If you believe a child has created an account contrary to our requirements, contact us so we can investigate.

19. Cookies and website technologies

The Around Town website may use essential cookies or similar technologies needed for security, session management and website functionality.

If we introduce non-essential analytics, advertising or marketing cookies, we will provide appropriate information and consent controls where required.

20. Security

We use technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or loss.

These measures may include:

• Encrypted network connections.
• Access controls.
• Authentication controls.
• Database security policies.
• Restricted administrative permissions.
• Secure server-side secrets.
• Monitoring and abuse-prevention controls.

No internet service can guarantee absolute security.

21. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as Around Town develops, when our processing changes or where laws and regulatory guidance are updated.

We will update the date at the top of this page when changes are made.

Where a material change affects how we use personal information, we will take reasonable steps to bring that change to members' attention.

22. Contact us

For privacy questions, requests or concerns:

COZQ Limited
Trading as Around Town
Company number 16592649
VAT number 519163195
Registered office: 20 Wenlock Road, London, England, N1 7GU

Email: [email protected]
Product website: https://aroundtown.uk
Operator website: https://cozq.com