Website privacy notice

Purpose 

We use your information to provide, maintain and improve the High Life Highland website and to understand how it is used.

This includes:

• Managing cookies and tracking your preferences
• Analysing how visitors use our website to improve our services
• Supporting our online advertising activity
• Directing you to external platforms where you can make bookings, complete forms or make purchases

Who We Are 

The data controller is The Highland Council. High Life Highland provide services on behalf of the Data Controller.

What Information We Collect 

We may collect personal information that you provide to us, such as your name, email address, telephone number, and any details submitted through online forms. We also collect limited technical information, such as IP addresses and website usage data, to help us improve our website and services.

We will only collect information that is necessary for the purpose outlined above.

Special Category Data 

We do not collect any special category data for the purposes outlined above.

Cookies and Website Analytics

Our website uses cookies — small text files stored on your device — to help us understand how visitors use our site. We use CookieYes to manage cookie consent. You can choose which types of cookies you accept when you visit our website.

Cookies we may use include:

• Strictly necessary cookies – essential for the website to function (no consent required)
• Analytics cookies – to understand how visitors interact with our site (e.g. pages visited, time spent)
• Functional cookies – to remember your preferences
• Advertisement cookies – to support our online advertising activity and measure its effectiveness

We use Google Analytics to help us understand how visitors use our site. Google Analytics collects information such as pages visited, time spent on the site, and how you arrived. This data is aggregated and anonymised — it does not identify you personally.

We also use Google Signals, which allows Google to link your visit to your Google account (if you are signed in) to support cross-device reporting, audience building, and ad personalisation for our Google Ads campaigns. This only occurs if you have consented to advertisement cookies.

We use Metricool to analyse website and social media performance. Metricool may collect information about how you interact with our website as part of this analysis.

Some pages on our website include embedded YouTube videos. If you click play on a video, YouTube will load and may set its own cookies on your device. This only occurs when you actively play a video. Please refer to Google's privacy policy for details of the cookies YouTube sets.

Links to External Platforms

Some links on our website take you to forms, services or shops hosted on third-party platforms. These include:

• Online forms – hosted on Alchemer
• Library account login and services – hosted on Spydus
• Leisure and fitness booking and account login – hosted on Gladstone
• Our online shop – hosted on Shopify at a separate web address
• Event booking – hosted on Ticket Tailor

When you use any of these external platforms, your information is collected and held by that platform — not on our website. Each platform has its own privacy policy which will apply to the information you provide.

Why We Use Your Information 

We use your personal information to:

• Deliver the service requested
• Manage accounts and memberships
• Communicate with you
• Process payments
• Meet legal and regulatory obligations
• Improve services
• Protect the safety and wellbeing of staff and customers

Lawful Basis for Processing 

We process your personal information under the following lawful bases:

• Article 6(1)(a) Consent – for non-essential cookies, where you have accepted them via our cookie banner
• Article 6(1)(f) Legitimate interests – for website analytics to improve our services, where this does not override your rights
• Article 6(1)(a) Consent – for advertisement cookies and Google Signals, where you have accepted advertising cookies via our cookie banner

If You Do Not Provide Information 

• Strictly necessary cookies cannot be disabled as they are required for the website to work
• If you decline analytics or functional cookies, some features of the site may not work as expected

Who We Share Information With 

We use the following trusted third-party services to operate our website. These may process personal information on our behalf:

• CookieYes – cookie consent management
• Google Analytics – website analytics
• Google Ads – online advertising
• Google Signals – cross-device reporting and audience building for Google Ads (where you have consented to advertisement cookies)
• Metricool – website and social media performance analytics
• YouTube – embedded video content (cookies set only when you play a video)

External platforms linked from our website (such as Alchemer, Shopify and account login providers) act as independent data controllers for the information you provide to them, and their own privacy policies apply.

Information will only be shared where there is a lawful basis to do so.

For details of our data processors, please visit: Data processors | High Life Highland

International Transfers 

Some of our third-party service providers may process data outside the UK. Where this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as UK adequacy regulations or Standard Contractual Clauses.

Google Analytics, Google Ads and YouTube data may be transferred to and processed in the United States. Google relies on Standard Contractual Clauses as the safeguard for these transfers. For more information, see Google's Data Processing Terms:

https://business.safety.google/dataprocessingterms/

Metricool is headquartered in Spain and operates within the UK GDPR framework. Data may be processed within the European Economic Area.

How Long We Keep Information 

• Cookie data: retained for the duration set by each cookie — see our Cookie Policy for details
• Website analytics data: retained for 14 months, in line with our Google Analytics data retention settings

Automated Decision Making and Profiling 

Our website analytics tools use automated processing to analyse patterns in how visitors use the site (such as popular pages and traffic sources). This is used only to improve our services and does not involve automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.

Your Rights 

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access your personal information
• Request correction of inaccurate information
• Request erasure of your information in certain circumstances
• Restrict processing in certain circumstances
• Object to processing in certain circumstances
• Request data portability where applicable
• Withdraw consent at any time where consent is the lawful basis

For more information about your rights, visit: Your data protection rights | High Life Highland

Data Protection Officer 

If you have any questions about how your information is used, please contact:

Data Protection Officer
Highland Council
Headquarters
Glenurquhart Road
IV3 5NX

Email: DPO@highland.gov.uk
Telephone: 01463 702029

Complaints 

If you are unhappy with how your personal information has been handled, you may contact:

Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://ico.org.ukico.org.uk