Privacy
Local Landscape is run by Startling Ltd. This page says what we keep about you, why, and how to have it deleted.
If you just look around
We keep nothing that identifies you by name. We use Google Analytics to see which pages are read, so we know what is useful. It also counts when someone starts an email alert, claims an organisation's page or follows a link to apply, with the scheme, organisation or alert settings it was about, but never who it was. The private codes in the links we email are hidden from it. It sets cookies (named _ga and _ga_…) that give your browser a random ID, and it does not store your internet address. You can block these cookies in your browser or with Google's opt-out add-on, and the site works the same. There are no advertising cookies. The only other cookie is the one that keeps you signed in, if you have a business profile or look after an organisation's page. If you switch between light and dark mode, your browser remembers the choice on your own device. The events map loads its streets from OpenFreeMap, which sets no cookies; like any website, its servers see your internet address when your browser asks for the map.
When you follow a link from this site to another organisation's page (to apply for a scheme, to read its official page, to visit an organisation's website, or to book an event or a room), your browser tells our server which scheme, organisation or event the link was for and which website it went to, and we add one to that day's count. We keep nothing about who clicked: no name, internet address, cookie or browser details. So that one person clicking the same link again and again counts once, our server remembers a scrambled form of the internet address behind each click for a day at most, in its memory only. Each organisation that looks after its page here can see the counts for its own links.
When you use the funding list's filters or search box, or answer the questions on the home page, your browser tells our server the answers you picked (where, what the business does, its size, how long it has been going, what it needs help with and what it is looking for) and any words you typed, and we add one to that day's count of what businesses look for. We keep nothing about who searched. We keep the words typed, but we only show or share words that three or more searches have used, and we delete words used fewer than three times 30 days after their last use.
If you type a postcode to find your area or the people to ring, your browser sends it only to this site. Our server looks it up with postcodes.io, a free service that uses Ordnance Survey and Office for National Statistics data, and keeps nothing. postcodes.io sees the postcode, but not who asked.
If you describe your business in the box on the home page, your browser sends what you type, and the address of any website you give, only to this site. Our server reads that website's front page, then sends your words and the page's text to Anthropic, whose AI (Claude) picks the schemes that fit. We don't keep the page. We don't keep what you typed either, unless you save it in a business profile (see below): it is used for your search and then dropped, and our logs only note that a search was made and what it cost. We do add the place, sector, size, stage and needs it read from your words to the same counts of what businesses look for, never the words themselves. To stop one person or a robot using it too often, our server counts searches from each internet address for a day, in its memory only and under a scrambled form of the address. Please don't type anything personal you wouldn't want sent.
If you use "Could your business apply?" on a scheme's page, your browser sends what you type, and any place you pick, only to this site. If you are signed in with a business profile, our server also uses your profile's answers. It reads the scheme's official page, then sends your words, those answers and the scheme's details to Anthropic, whose AI (Claude) compares them with the scheme's rules. We don't keep what you typed, unless you save it in a business profile, and our logs only note which scheme was checked and what it cost. We add the place, sector, size and stage it used to the counts of what businesses look for, never the words themselves. It is limited in the same way as the matching box above, and the same goes for anything personal: please don't type it.
If you sign up for email alerts
We keep your email address, the answers you gave (where your business is, what it does, how long it has been going, its size, what it needs help with and what you are looking for), how often you want emails, and when we sent them. We use them only to send the alerts you asked for, and we send nothing else. We send an alert only after you have pressed the button in the confirmation email. When an alert starts, its answers (not your address) are added to the counts of what businesses look for.
- Every alert email has a link to change how often or to stop. Stopping deletes the alert.
- From the same page you can stop every alert and delete your address in one go.
- A sign-up that is never confirmed is deleted after a week. Our record of each email sent is deleted after 30 days.
If you make a business profile
We keep your email address, the answers you gave (the same six as for alerts), your website and a description of your business in your own words if you give them, your alert settings, and when you signed in. We use them to show you what fits, to send the alerts you choose, and for the matching described above when you press "Find what fits" on your profile page: your words and your website's front page then go to Anthropic for that search only. Nothing about your business is shared with anyone else unless you ask us to.
- We save a profile only after you have pressed the button in the email we send you. If you don't, what you typed is deleted by the next morning.
- Your profile page lists everything we hold about your email address, and one button deletes all of it: your profile, your listing, your alerts, your ratings, your sign-in, and our notes of the emails we sent you and you sent us. If you have looked after an organisation's page, the changes you made to its schemes stay in their history.
- Resend, which sends and receives our email, keeps its own copy of each email for 30 days.
If you rate a scheme or an organisation
We keep your rating (your score and your answers to the two questions), what you rated and when, with your sign-in address. We never show a rating with your name or your business's, and for now we don't show ratings at all: once three businesses have rated a scheme, their ratings move its Local Landscape rating up or down a little. You can change or remove your rating on the scheme's or organisation's page, your profile page lists your ratings, and deleting your profile deletes them.
If you list your business in the directory
Your listing is public. Anyone can see your business's name, its website, its LinkedIn page if you give one, what it does, its town or council area, the support you say it has had, and the logo from its website. To say what it does, we read your website's front page when you list it and again each month, and send that page's text to Anthropic, whose AI writes a sentence or two from it. If you write those words yourself, we show yours instead and stop asking the AI.
- Your postcode, if you give it, is only used to find your town, and is shown only if you tick "Show where we are on the map". Otherwise your pin is at the middle of your town.
- A person checks a listing before it goes live, unless your email address is on your website's own domain.
- You can change or remove your listing on your profile page at any time, and deleting your profile deletes it.
Counts we may share
We may share counts of businesses by area, sector and size with funders and partners. We never name a business, and we never give a figure for fewer than three. The same goes for the counts of what people search for on the site.
If you sign in for your organisation
To look after your organisation's page, we keep your email address, your name and role, the claim you made, and a record of each change you make to a scheme, with your address against it, so changes can be traced. We use them only to let you edit and to check claims. Signing in leaves one cookie in your browser that keeps you signed in for 30 days; signing out removes it. You can delete your account from your account page at any time.
Who else handles it
Railway hosts the website and its database. Resend sends and receives our email. They handle your address only to do that for us. Google provides Google Analytics, and Anthropic the AI that does the matching and the "Could your business apply?" check, and reads listed businesses' websites, all described above.
The funding information
The schemes, organisations and events on the site are gathered automatically from public websites and newsletters. Where they name people, they are names and contact details the organisations published themselves. If something about you is shown and you would like it changed or removed, tell us.
Contact
Email hello@locallandscape.co.uk with any question, or to ask what we hold about you or to have it deleted. You can also complain to us at the same address about how we have used your information, and we will reply. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.