Data protection and privacy

Who we are

Explore Peterborough, including this guide, the map at /map/ and the Toolkit we use to run listings and newsletters, is run by Mr Terry Harris, trading as Terry Harris Photography. He is the data controller for the personal information described here.

Address: Unit 2 Fengate Trade Park, Fengate, Peterborough PE1 5XB
Data protection contact: [email protected]
ICO registration: ZB443815, Tier 1. Registered 9 November 2022; the registration runs to 8 November 2026 and is renewed each year.

You can check our entry on the ICO's register of fee payers.

What we collect and why

Just looking around

You don't need an account to use the guide. Searching the site sends your search words to our server to find matches; we don't keep them against you. The only form on the guide is the newsletter sign-up below, and it sends nothing unless you fill it in.

You can join our newsletter on the newsletter page. It asks for your first name and email address, and for you to tick a box agreeing to receive it; the box is never ticked for you. The form goes straight from our website to the Toolkit, our own contacts system on the same server, and nowhere else.

If you sign up for one of our newsletters, we keep your email address, your name if you give it, the lists you chose, and a record of your consent: the wording you agreed to, when, and the internet address (IP address) you signed up from. We first send you an email asking you to confirm, and nothing else is sent until you do.

You'll get the newsletter only if you ask for it and confirm. It tells you about events, places to visit and local news in and around Peterborough, and we won't use your details for anything else, pass them to anyone to market to you, or sell them.

Our emails are sent from the Toolkit. Every one has an unsubscribe link that works first time without signing in, and a link to change which emails you get. When you open an email, or click a link in it, we record that it happened, with the time, your IP address and the kind of device and email program. We use this to see which emails are useful and to stop emailing people who never open them. If you'd rather we didn't know, switch off images in your email program, and opens won't be recorded.

Asking to use one of our pictures

The photographs and 360° images are ours or their owners'. To use one, you can send the request form beside the picture on the map. It asks for your name, email address and reason, and if you like your organisation and mobile number. It is emailed to us and a copy is kept on our server so a request is never lost. We use it only to reply to you and to keep a record of any permission we give.

Listings, venues and enquiries

Businesses, venues and event organisers can send us listings, and anyone can send an enquiry. We keep what you send, with the page it came from and your IP address and browser details, which we use to spot spam. Everything is checked by a person before anything is published. Once published, a listing shows the business details you gave us, such as a name, address, phone number and website, so please only send contact details you're happy to have shown publicly.

Your location, in the journey planner

The map's journey planner can start from where you are, but only when you press the button for it, and only after your browser asks your permission. Your position is used in your browser to draw the map and the route. It is not sent to our server and we don't store it. The planner keeps it in the page's memory for a minute, so a second press is quick. During turn-by-turn directions it follows your position until you stop.

To work out a walking, cycling or driving route, the planner sends the start and end points to the routing service listed under other services. A postcode or address you type is sent to the lookup services listed there too.

Saved events

When you save an event with ♡, it is kept in your own browser (its local storage), not on our server, and not linked to you. Clear your browser's site data and the list goes. If you download your saved events as a calendar file, the events' names go to our server in the address so it can build the file.

Server logs and security

Like every website, ours receives your IP address and browser details with each page you ask for. Our web server keeps them in its logs, which we use to keep the site running, investigate faults and stop abuse. The site sits behind Cloudflare, which handles every request on its way to us to speed up the site and block attacks; Cloudflare processes your IP address and request details for that purpose. Our server is in a data centre run by our hosting provider, who processes data only on our instructions.

We don't use Google Analytics or any other visitor analytics, and there is no advertising on the site. We use Google Search Console to see how the site appears in Google's results; it reports totals from Google's side and puts nothing on your device.

Cookies and your browser

We use only cookies that the site needs to work or to stay secure, so we don't ask for your consent to them. There are no advertising, analytics or social media cookies. Most visitors will only ever get the map's and Cloudflare's.

Cookie	Set by	What it's for	How long
`ep_gate`	Explore Peterborough	A preview pass, only while the site is not yet open to everyone. It is given only to our own staff and to people we have given the preview password, so the web server lets them in. It holds the pass and nothing about you.	Two hours
`preview`	Explore Peterborough	Remembers that you opened the site with a preview link before launch, so the home page shows you the guide instead of the holding page. Only set if you use such a link.	30 days
`pi_toolkit_session`	Explore Peterborough (the Toolkit)	Keeps staff signed in to the Toolkit, our listings and newsletter system. It is only sent to addresses under /toolkit. It is also set when you open an unsubscribe or email preferences page, because those pages are part of the Toolkit; there it holds only a random ID.	30 minutes after you were last active
`XSRF-TOKEN`	Explore Peterborough (the Toolkit)	A security token set alongside the session above, which stops other websites sending forms in your name. Only sent to addresses under /toolkit.	30 minutes
`remember_web_…`	Explore Peterborough (the Toolkit)	Only for staff who tick "Keep me signed in on this device" when signing in to the Toolkit: it keeps them signed in when the browser is closed and opened again. Thirty minutes without using the Toolkit still signs them out. Only sent to addresses under /toolkit.	Until they sign out
`PI_ADMIN`	Explore Peterborough (the map)	The map checks whether the browser is signed in to its editing tools, and this cookie is how it does that. For visitors it holds only a random ID and is never linked to you.	Until you close your browser
`__cf_bm, cf_clearance and similar`	Cloudflare	Cloudflare protects the site from attacks and automated abuse. It may set these to tell people from bots, or to remember that you passed a security check.	From 30 minutes to a few days

The guide and the map also keep a few things in your browser's local storage. These never leave your device:

p360.favs: The events you have saved with ♡, so the Saved page can list them.
p360.size, p360.contrast, p360.theme: Your text size, high-contrast and light-mode choices.
tour-outside (this tab only): Which page you came from into a 360° Explore, so the Back link takes you there. It is cleared when you close the tab.
Map settings: The map remembers the base map you picked, your list view, whether the list is hidden and the distance units for the journey planner.

You can delete cookies and stored data at any time in your browser's settings. The site will still work; you'll just lose your saved events and settings.

Other services on our pages

Some of what you see comes straight from another company's servers. When it loads, your browser connects to them, so they receive your IP address and browser details, as any website you visit would, and the address of our page. They handle that under their own privacy notices. The 360° viewer itself, and all our photographs, come from our own site.

Google Fonts: On every page, for the lettering. Privacy notice
YouTube (through its privacy-enhanced youtube-nocookie.com player): In 360° Explore views that include a film: the film's preview picture loads with the 360° view, and the player loads only when you press play. A few 360° videos on the full map use YouTube's standard player. Privacy notice
OpenStreetMap: Map tiles, when a page shows the map, and address search when you type an address into the journey planner (this is Nominatim, run by the OpenStreetMap Foundation). Privacy notice
OpenFreeMap: The map in the 3D view. Privacy notice
Esri: Map pictures, only if you switch the map to Satellite. Privacy notice
OpenTopoMap: Map tiles, only if you switch the map to Terrain. Privacy notice
FOSSGIS (routing.openstreetmap.de): Works out walking, cycling and driving routes in the journey planner. It receives the start and end points of the route you ask for. Privacy notice
postcodes.io: Turns a postcode you type into the journey planner into a place on the map. It receives the postcode. Privacy notice

Some buttons are plain links to other sites, and nothing is sent to those sites unless you press one. They include the share buttons (WhatsApp, Facebook, X), Add to Google Calendar, Directions in Google Maps, live bus times on bustimes.org, and ticket and venue websites.

Our lawful bases

UK data protection law says we need a lawful basis for each use of your information.

Consent for newsletters and marketing emails, including recording whether they are opened and clicked. You can withdraw it at any time with the unsubscribe link in any email or by emailing us.
Legitimate interests for running and protecting the website (server logs, Cloudflare, the cookies above), handling image requests and enquiries, and checking and publishing listings. Our interest is running a useful, secure visitor guide and replying to people who contact us, and we keep what we hold to what that needs.

How long we keep things

Newsletter sign-ups: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them. A sign-up you never confirm can't be confirmed after 72 hours and is not used.
After you unsubscribe or ask us to erase your details, we keep your email address on a "do not contact" list, and nothing else, so that you are never added back by mistake. Your consent record is kept with the personal details removed, as evidence of what we were allowed to do at the time.
Records of email opens and clicks: up to two years, then deleted or made anonymous.
Image requests and enquiries: up to two years after we last hear from you, longer for any permission we granted, while the picture is in use.
Listings: for as long as they are listed. Past events stop showing on their own and are archived, and rejected or spam submissions are deleted within a year.
Server logs: no more than 90 days, unless we need them longer to investigate a specific problem.
Cookies and browser storage: as shown in the table above.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

see the information we hold about you and get a copy of it;
correct anything that's wrong or incomplete;
have it deleted;
object to how we use it, including anything we do on the basis of legitimate interests, and always to direct marketing;
restrict how we use it while a question is sorted out;
take it with you in a common, machine-readable format (portability);
withdraw your consent at any time, which doesn't affect anything done before you withdrew it.

To use any of these, email [email protected] or write to the address above. It's free, and we'll reply within one month. We may need to check who you are before we act, so that we don't hand your information to someone else.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first and we'll try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator: ico.org.uk, or phone 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this notice

We'll update this page when what we do changes, for example if we add a new feature or a new service. The date below shows when it last changed. If a change affects how we use information you've already given us, we'll tell you directly first.

Last updated: 16 October 2026