Privacy Policy

CCTV is in operation across our parks, predominantly in private areas but is also in place in some public facing areas, with clear signage in place. Our CCTV captures and stores real time images and footage wherever the cameras are pointed. Image or footage of you may be captured whilst you are in our parks.

CCTV is in use and therefore your data may be captured for the following purposes:

• To ensure the health and safety of staff, contractors and visitors.
• To protect our buildings and assets
• To detect, prevent or reduce the incidence of crime
• To monitor site use and maintain visitor levels to keep you safe
• To support with improved inspection and maintenance regimes
• To prevent and respond effectively to all forms of possible harassment and disorder
• To reduce the fear of crime
• To create a safer environment
• To assist with health and safety and other serious occurrences, including employment issues, for example, disciplinary investigations, where appropriate to do so
• For the defence with regards to legal or insurance claims

We will only retain and share images/footage when it is necessary or we are required to do so by law, such as to assist in any investigations in relation to the above purposes.

By signing up to our mailing lists you agree to receive communications from TRP by consenting we can process your personal data, for the purpose of marketing. You can choose to provide us your postcode to receive information on your closest park.

We collect your personal data when you sign up via our ‘Newsletter Sign Up’ page or if you select to hear from us via other places. This could be other pages on our website, or via third parties such as our shop, fundraising platforms like JustGiving or other initiatives like the parks half marathon. We want to ensure you receive content relevant to you. Initially you will be signed up to our full mailing list but you can change your mind at a later date. Within the emails there will be an ‘unsubscribe’ link or you can get in contact with us directly using the details on this page. Our different communications will be about visiting the parks, volunteering with us, Health & Wellbeing, Nature and Heritage events and experiences, conservation work, fundraising campaigns, and learning opportunities. If you tell us you don’t want to receive marketing communications anymore, then you may not hear about events or other work we do that may be of interest to you.

We currently use Dotmailer as our email marketing platform. By consenting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Dotmailer for processing, which may be outside of the EEA. Their full privacy policy can be found here.

If you are on one of our specific web pages and choose to sign up to receive information, this will be about the theme of the page. For example, from the learning page, you will only receive news about learning offers, or just about events in the parks from the events page. You can choose to hear about other or all topics by following the ‘unsubscribe’ link in the emails.

We use cookies in our email communications to track whether the mail has been opened or read and whether you have used any website links contained in the email. This allows us to monitor and improve our email communications and website.

We will never share your information with companies outside The Royal Parks for inclusion in their marketing.

We use your personal information so we can manage your dedication, for example, a bench dedication. When your dedication period comes to an end we will use your contact details to get in touch and offer you an extension to the dedication period. During the dedication period we may contact you to update you about your dedication, check your contact details remain correct or invite you to supporter events. You can inform us of any changes at any time. We have a legal obligation to retain financial records and will retain your dedication payment details in line with our retention policy.

We use your personal information so we can administer your donation/pledge. We have a legal obligation to retain financial records and will retain your details in line with our retention policy. Where your donation comes from a third party site such as virgin money giving, justgiving, WorldPay, or PayPal, they will share your information with us, for us to retain in our financial records.

Where we have your permission (see direct marketing/newsletters),  we may invite you to support vital initiatives by making a donation, getting involved in fundraising activities or leaving a gift in your will. Occasionally, we may invite some supporters to attend special events to find out more about the ways in which donations and gifts in wills can make a difference to specific projects and to our cause.

If you tell us you want to fundraise to support our cause, we’ll use the personal information you give us to record your plans and contact you to support your fundraising efforts.

Our Fundraising Promise

Your generosity has a huge impact and we want to ensure that you have an excellent experience every time you choose to make a donation. Read our Fundraising Promise.

As a charity, we are grateful to receive donations of all sizes. Every donation helps protect the green spaces in our care. Philanthropy and major gifts from supporters and members of the public can play an important role in supporting our projects and programmes, which enhance everyone’s experience of visiting and using the Royal Parks.

For a small number of people, we may undertake research using data that person has shared with us, data collected from the public domain or information which may have been passed to us by a third party by way of introduction, to build a picture of their philanthropic activities, wealth, employment and capacity and inclination to support The Royal Parks philanthropically. Processing this data helps us to tailor our ways of communicating with different supporters, determine who may be most interested in entering into a conversation about philanthropy and ensure that approaches we make about philanthropy are appropriate and directed only to those who we believe may be able and willing to give. 

We believe that processing in this way is in our legitimate interest as a charity, conducive to providing an excellent supporter experience and vital to securing the support we need to protect your parks. However, we will always respect your right to privacy when carrying out this research. We will only process your data for these purposes if we have reasonable cause to believe you may be interested in supporting the parks philanthropically (such as a previous history of supporting our work), where we have carried out a relevant Legitimate Interest Assessment and where we are confident that processing your data in this way would not reasonably be deemed intrusive. You can opt out of your data being processed for these purposes at any time by emailing fundraising@royalparks.org.uk.

We may sometimes contract third parties to help us carry out fundraising research. This may include contracting the third party to analyse personal data we hold, and collect and make use of other, publicly available data.

Research using data you have shared with us

We may use data you have shared with us that may be indicative of your wealth and capacity to give to understand whether it would be appropriate to approach you about philanthropy. This data might include:

• The size, frequency and duration of any past donations you have made to The Royal Parks, including donations you have made or funds you have raised when participating in events to fundraise for The Royal Parks, such as The Royal Parks Half Marathon, Swim Serpentine or the London Marathon
• Whether you have purchased tickets or attended our Winter Wonderland Charity Preview Night or any similar charitable events operated by The Royal Parks
• Whether you live in a post code where we have received a greater level of support previously, or where we might reasonably expect to receive a greater level of support from residents due to factors such as the affluence of the area and proximity to one of the spaces in our care

Research using publicly available information

We may use information from publicly available sources to gain a better understanding of your interests and capacity to give. We may also share this information with our staff and trustees if you are attending one of our supporter or stakeholder events, so that they are informed about your background and interests and able to engage with you about areas of our work that we believe will be of most interest to you. We may collect this data from sources including:

• Lists of directorships published by Companies House
• Lists of trustees published by The Charity Commission for England and Wales or Scottish Charity Regulator
• Newspaper or magazine articles
• Profiles you have made publicly available on personal websites, organisational websites or professional platforms, such as LinkedIn
• Twitter (where you have made your posts publicly available)
• Published lists of other organisations’ supporters
• Specialist charity research tools, such as Factary Phi, which collate publicly available data about philanthropic support of charities

Information passed to us by way of introduction

Sometimes, a mutual contact may inform us that they believe you would be interested in hearing from us about philanthropy and share information about your philanthropic activities and interests. We may make a record of relevant information that is shared with us, such as the suggested nature of your interest in our work or your interest in similar charities and causes, if we are confident that processing your data in this way would not be intrusive or deemed unreasonable.

Fundraising due diligence

As a charity, we have an obligation to undertake appropriate due diligence on donations (in accordance with the guidelines set out by the Charity Commission for England and Wales and the Fundraising Regulator) to ensure that we do not accept gifts from inappropriate sources. We may collect information from publicly available sources including, but not limited to, the UK government’s Sanctions List, newspaper and magazine articles, Companies House and the Charity Commission for England and Wales / Scottish Charity Regulator to verify the appropriateness of accepting a donation.

If you’ve told us that you have left a gift in your Will to The Royal Parks, plan to leave a gift in your Will or are considering doing so, we will keep a record on our database.

Why we process your data 

Keeping a record of your intention to leave a gift in your Will, or interest in doing so, helps us to ensure that we can communicate with you in a way that reflects your decision and generosity. Recording who has considered leaving a gift to the parks also helps us to understand who is likely to welcome communications about gifts in Wills, enabling us to spend charitable funds more efficiently. If you have let us know you have left or intend to leave a gift, processing your data can also help us to administer your gift and ensure that it is spent according to your wishes after you pass away.

Where we collect your data from

• Information you have shared with us directly via email, telephone, by letter or in person.
• Data shared by our Free Wills provider, the National Free Wills Network, if you have chosen to make your Will through our Free Wills service. 

What data we collect

• Full name, home address, email address and telephone number (where provided)
• Details about your gift, such as the type, amount and intended use for your gift, where you have chosen to share this information
• Correspondence or conversations with you or a third party you have instructed to contact us about your Will (e.g. your solicitor)

If you have made your Will through our Free Wills partnership with the National Free Wills Network, NFWN will also share your date of birth and information you have shared about your gift and estate, if you have left a gift in your Will to The Royal Parks.

How we use your data

We use your data to:

• Ensure that the communications you receive from us reflect your generosity, interest in and relationship with the parks. For example, we might invite you to special events, share information about leaving a gift or the impact of your gift, or omit you from communications about leaving a gift if you’ve let us know that you’ve included a gift in your Will.
• Understand more about who leaves gifts to the parks, so that we can share communications about gifts in Wills with people who are most likely to value them. This helps us to spend charity funds more effectively.
• Help administer and spend your gift in accordance with your wishes after you pass away.
• If you have applied to use our Free Wills service, we will pass your full name and contact details to the National Free Wills Network, so that they can send you the information you need to use the service.

Opting out

If you would prefer that we did not process your data for these purposes, you can opt out by emailing fundraising@royalparks.org.uk or writing to The Fundraising Team at The Old Police House, Hyde Park, London, W2 2UH. 

Where we are in the process of receiving a gift left in a supporter’s Will, we will process personal data of individuals involved in administering the estate to ensure that we comply with the legal obligations placed upon charities when receiving and spending gifts in Wills.

Whose data we process

• Supporters who have left a gift in their Will
• Executors of the supporter’s estate and Trustees of Will Trusts
• Employees of legal firms and other professional third parties instructed or involved in the administration of the estate
• Individuals named as beneficiaries of the Will
• Family members and next of kin, where permission has been sought to thank and report on a gift’s impact
• Third parties who request an ex gratia payment or variation to the charity’s entitlement
• Employees of other charities named as a beneficiaries in the supporter’s Will

What data we collect

• Home address and contact details
• Email address and telephone number (if provided)
• Data included in the supporter’s Will and any codicils
• Correspondence (letters, emails, texts and instant messages) and the content of conversations (in person, telephone, video conferencing)
• The personal data of other beneficiaries and their entitlements, including beneficiaries who are entitled to a life interest through a Will Trust

Where we collect data from

• The supporter’s Will and any codicils, which may be provided by an Executor, Trustee, legal professional or from the public domain, including by a probate notification service
• Executors, Trustees and professional third parties instructed or involved in the administration of the estate
• Probate notification services, such as Smee & Ford, which collect and analyse probate data made publicly available by HM Courts and Tribunals Service
• Other charities that are beneficiaries of the Will
• Third parties, where a request for an ex gratia payment or variation to the charity’s entitlement has been submitted

How we use the data

Collecting data during the process of administering a gift left in a supporter’s Will helps us to:

• Communicate with individuals instructed or involved in the administration of the estate
• Meet our legal obligations to ensure that the charity receives its full entitlement from a Will in which it is named as a beneficiary and uses a supporter’s gift in accordance with the wishes expressed in their Will
• Adjudicate requests for ex gratia payments or variations to the charity’s entitlement
• Refer matters relating to bequests left to the charity to the Charity Commission for England and Wales (where law or guidance requires)
• Thank a supporter’s next of kin and family (where we have obtained permission to do so) 

How long we retain data

We will hold personal data of those involved in a Will which names the charity as a beneficiary for as long as is required to meet our legal obligations and ensure the charity’s entitlement is administered without challenge. In most cases, this will be seven years after the financial year in which the charity received its full entitlement. However, where a Will is contested, gives the charity an entitlement to assets in which another beneficiary has a life interest, or names the charity as an Executor, Administrator or Trustee, a longer retention period may be required to ensure that the charity can meet its obligations.

We collect the information in our licence and permit application forms so that we can provide a service to you. The fields of information will depend on the licence you apply for but will include information about you, your business, your use of the park and payment information if required. The licence/permit information is collected under the basis of the customer contract with you and the payment details must be retained for financial purposes as our legal obligation.

Our range of licenced areas can be found on our web pages: Commercial & licences or may be park dependant such as fishing licencing in Bushy Park and Richmond Park.

As part of some of our licences, some of your information may be made public if you choose to. For example, if your Fitness Licence application is approved, your contact details including your name, company and telephone number can be uploaded to the ‘Licensed Royal Parks fitness operators’ page on our website. There is a tick box option on the Fitness Licence application for you to confirm to us if you would like your contact details to be advertised online.

We collect your information to manage our volunteering programme, from the moment you enquire to the time you decide to stop volunteering with us. This may include references, criminal records checks, details of emergency contacts and medical conditions etc and our purpose is to adhere to relevant legislation and to manage our arrangement (contract) with you. This is to protect both you and us in areas such as safeguarding or health and safety.

We will use your information to contact you about all aspects of the volunteering programme. For example: contacting you about an opportunity you’ve applied for or we think you might be interested in, expense claims you’ve made, shifts you’ve booked and to recognise your contribution. It could also include information about things happening where you volunteer and about your volunteering, including asking for your opinions on your volunteering experience. We may also share this data anonymously with funders to help them monitor how their funding is making a difference.

We will retain your personal data for three years after you last volunteered with us.

Across our parks we have a range of services run by and supported by volunteers. When you book an event, such as walking tours, we will securely share your name with our volunteers so they can take a register.

All of our walking volunteers have been trained and understand the requirement to protect your data and will destroy the list as soon as possible after the event.

We process customer data to fulfil orders and run events, and manage our customer contract with you. Your data will be used to communicate with you throughout the process, including confirming we’ve received your order and payment, to confirm dispatch, to clarify where we might need more detail to fulfil an order or booking, or to resolve issues that might arise with your order or booking. The Royal Parks Half Marathon and other events held in the Parks have their own privacy notices which can be found on their websites.

Where we have provided you with a service such as a licence or event booking, we may ask for your feedback on that as part of our customer contract with you. The purpose of this is for our continual improvement of the parks and is an integral part of park management.

When you get in contact with us regarding your experience of the park, it may relate to a service which is managed by a third party under contract with TRP. Where possible we only share anonymised information but we may need to share personal details to look into your communication further. This will be done in line with our contract with the third party who will protect your information on our behalf.

We carry out research and consultations with our supporters, customers, staff and volunteers to get feedback on their experience with us. We use this feedback to improve the experiences that we offer and ensure we know what is relevant and interesting to you.

If you choose to take part in research, we’ll tell you what data we will collect, why and how we’ll use it. This kind of research we conduct is optional and you can choose not to take part. For some of our research we may ask you to provide special categories of personal data (e.g. ethnicity). You don’t have to provide this data and we also provide a ‘prefer not to say’ option. We only use it at an aggregate level for reporting (e.g. equal opportunities monitoring).

We may engage a research agency to support our research. We will always make it clear if another party is involved to ensure you are happy for them to handle your personal data on our behalf.

If you choose to sign up to one of our courses/events (e.g. walking tours, workshops, experiences etc) through our website or by telephone, we will process a limited amount of your personal data in order to provide you with the service you have requested. This may include detail regarding health or dietary requirements where necessary. Where we work with a contracted provider to deliver these courses/events we may need to share your personal information with that provider. Your personal data will be processed on a contractual basis: we cannot provide the service without your personal data.

We may request some personal data about the children attending the course. This may include detail regarding health for specific events where our staff are acting in loco parentis, in order to keep participating children safe. Personal data will be destroyed as soon as the course has run.  We may keep some anonymised data for statistical and reporting purposes.

Photography, video footage and sound recording is of great value in The Royal Parks (TRP). In this privacy notice, use of the term ‘photos’ covers the use of video footage and sound recordings also. We might take photos during landscaping and maintenance activities, during events or for other activity such as learning, volunteering, fundraising and play in the park. We also take photos for specific purposes such as appearing on our website, in emails, on our social media channels and in flyers and advertising campaigns. Sometimes we capture footage by use of a drone.

Park management

As an organisation charged with looking after public spaces we seek to ensure that TRP are maintained and preserved as necessary, and taking photos is necessary for this. This includes specific activities such as taking photos of landscapes, trees and animals, assets such as gates and statues to detail in our asset management system and work that has or has not been completed by contractors

For building works, we sometimes use a drone to capture footage, especially in hard to reach locations.

We do not intend to capture individuals in these photos, however, sometimes it may not be possible to take a photo without someone in the background. The purpose of these photos is not based around you as an individual.

Promotion of TRP and our work

One of TRP’s charitable objectives is to promote the use and enjoyment of the parks for public recreation, health and well-being including through the provision of sporting and cultural activities and events and the processing of personal data in photos is in this interest. We may take photos across a range of activities in the parks and use them across social media or presentations. Where photos are taken for this purpose we will make it clear to you and where possible will use a permission form to ensure you have been able to speak to us about your photo.

We may also retain photography, video footage and sound recording as a historical record.

Ceremonial events

During a ceremonial event, we will take photos or video of visitors gathered in our parks, paying their respects or laying floral tributes.

Marketing, media and sharing:

We may use photos for specific purposes such as (but not limited to) use on:

• TRP website
• TRP social media channels
• TRP internal presentations and emails
• Printed and online publications
• Marketing materials such as flyers and advertising campaigns
• Fundraising purposes such as funding websites and applications

We may like to share the photos with a third party such as for press releases, for any traditional and digital media platforms such as newspapers, magazines, online news websites or applications etc. In this instance we would securely share your photos with the party, stating they can only be used to publicise The Royal Parks and nothing else. Responsibility for that photo would then lie with that third party.

In order to comply with our contractual, statutory, and management obligations and responsibilities, we process personal data, including special categories of personal data, from job applicants and employees. Such data can include, but isn’t limited to, information relating to health, racial or ethnic origin, and criminal convictions. Further information is available internally for our employees.