Website privacy notice

Who we are

FreshLocal is operated by Ryefield Networks Limited. The company is the data controller: it decides why and how your personal information is used. At present, FreshLocal enquiries are handled by its operator, Adam Condron.

Privacy: privacy@freshlocal.org.uk
General enquiries: support@freshlocal.org.uk

What we collect

When you send an enquiry, we receive your name, email address, enquiry type, message and acknowledgement that we may use your details to respond. You can optionally give your town or trading area and, for seller enquiries, a stall or business name and what you sell. We also receive any information you include in later correspondence.

The enquiry email contains a submission time and, where available, a country indicator supplied by our hosting provider. The provider processes technical information such as your IP address, browser details and request information to deliver and protect the website. Our email providers process addresses, message content and delivery information.

You can choose not to contact us, and optional fields can be left blank. Required fields help us understand and reply to your message. Please do not include payment details, identity documents, sensitive personal information or someone else’s private contact details.

On a page labelled review preview, the form only demonstrates the experience: entries are not sent to FreshLocal or saved by our form code. Ordinary website connection information is still processed when you visit.

Why we use your information

We rely on legitimate interests to respond to enquiries, understand interest from potential buyers and sellers, consider local-gem suggestions, and keep useful records of those conversations. Our interests are in providing a helpful contact service and developing a local discovery service in response to the interest people express.

We also rely on legitimate interests to deliver the website, investigate faults and protect it against spam and misuse. We limit the information used to what is needed for those purposes and consider the effects on the people involved. You can object to uses based on legitimate interests.

Where we must handle information to comply with a specific legal requirement, such as dealing with a valid data-rights request, our basis is legal obligation.

The form acknowledgement is not marketing consent. We do not add enquirers or suggested sellers to a marketing mailing list. Any future marketing sign-up would explain the choice separately. We do not make decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you solely by automated means.

Suggesting a local gem

A suggestion may tell us about a seller who has not contacted FreshLocal themselves. We may receive their business name, general trading area, products and the description supplied by the person making the suggestion. We may also check information the business has made public to understand the suggestion.

Please share public business information rather than a home address, personal phone number or private email address. A suggestion does not create a public listing, endorse a business or give us permission to send it marketing.

If we receive identifiable information about someone from another source, we provide the relevant privacy information within one month, or sooner if we first contact them or disclose their information, unless a lawful exception applies. We explain the source and what we hold. Unnecessary personal details are removed.

Who handles your information

Within FreshLocal, your enquiry is read by Adam Condron. We use these services to operate the website and handle messages:

• Cloudflare hosts and protects the website, processes form submissions and routes email.
• Proton Mail provides the mailbox used to receive and reply to enquiries.
• Google Fonts supplies the website’s Inter typeface. Your browser connects to Google to request the font; this does not send the contents of your enquiry form to Google.

These providers use supporting suppliers and process technical or service information under their applicable terms and privacy policies. Relevant information may also be shared with professional advisers or authorities where necessary to obtain advice, meet a legal obligation or deal with a legal claim. We do not sell enquiry information.

Where your information is processed

Our providers operate internationally, so information may be processed outside the UK. Proton states that Proton Mail servers are in Switzerland, Germany and Norway; these countries are covered by UK adequacy arrangements, which recognise an adequate level of data protection.

Cloudflare’s published data-processing terms include safeguards for UK transfers, including standard contractual clauses with the UK Addendum where applicable. Its global services may involve processing in the United States and other countries. Proton’s published processing terms also address onward transfers and applicable safeguards.

Google handles font-request information under its own privacy policy, including its international-processing provisions. You can read the Cloudflare processing terms and Proton processing terms, or contact us for information about the safeguards relevant to your data.

How long we keep your information

• Buyer, seller, support and other routine enquiries: while we are dealing with the matter, then up to 24 months after it closes. If there is no ongoing matter, we count from the last meaningful contact. We remove information sooner when it is no longer needed.
• Local-gem suggestions we do not take forward: up to 90 days from receipt, then deleted or made anonymous. If the seller subsequently contacts us, that conversation follows the enquiry period above.
• Spam and unnecessary personal details: removed as soon as practicable. Where information is needed to investigate abuse or a dispute, we keep only what is relevant.

These periods cover correspondence under our control, including relevant sent messages and retained copies. A specific legal obligation or active dispute may require longer retention; we document the reason, restrict use and review whether it is still needed.

Providers also keep technical, security and recovery records under their own schedules. Their retention depends on the purpose of the record, service settings and legal requirements. Deletion from an active mailbox does not instantly remove every recovery copy: Proton currently states that its encrypted backups are retained for up to 30 days.

Browsing, fonts and cookies

You do not need an account to browse this website. The website’s own code does not set advertising cookies, store enquiry drafts on your device or add behavioural analytics. Hosting and security services may process necessary connection information, and your browser may cache website files.

The current homepage loads its font from Google Fonts. As with other requests to an external service, Google receives technical information such as your IP address and browser information. The font request is separate from the enquiry form.

Links to other websites open services with their own privacy practices. This notice covers FreshLocal’s information website, not the separate app or websites run by sellers.

Your choices and rights

You can ask to access your personal information, correct it, have it deleted or restrict its use. You can also object to processing based on legitimate interests. Which rights apply depends on the circumstances; if we cannot do what you ask, we will explain why.

Where the legal conditions apply, you also have a right to data portability. If we introduce a separate use based on consent, you will be able to withdraw that consent without affecting earlier lawful processing. The website enquiry service described here does not rely on the acknowledgement checkbox as consent.

Email privacy@freshlocal.org.uk or write to our registered office. You do not need a FreshLocal account. We may ask for proportionate information to confirm your identity. We normally respond within one month; if the law permits more time, we explain this.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please contact us. You can also complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), or call 0303 123 1113.

Children’s information

This website can be browsed without registering. Seller-interest enquiries are intended for adults. Please do not submit personal information about children in a suggestion. If a child contacts us, we use only what is necessary to deal with their message safely and remove unnecessary details. Children can exercise their own privacy rights and may ask a trusted adult to help.

Keeping this notice up to date

We update this notice when the website or our handling of information changes. If we want to use information for a materially different purpose, we explain that before doing so and establish the appropriate lawful basis.