1. Introduction

The BPL Group (“we”, “our”, or “us”) operates an independent digital regional news and community media network serving Blackpool, Wyre, and the Fylde Coast. Our brands include BlackpoolNews.uk, We Love Blackpool, associated community forums, and commercial communication channels.

This privacy policy outlines how we collect, store, process, and protect your personal information in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. Data Controller Contact

The BPL Group acts as the Data Controller for personal data processed through our websites and direct commercial operations. For data inquiries, rights requests, or regulatory queries, contact our desk:

3. The Information We Collect

We process personal data across distinct streams:

• Commercial Partners & Advertisers: Name, professional email address, phone number, company name, invoicing address, and payment confirmation details needed to deliver advertising retainers and sponsorships.
• Reader Inquiries & News Tips: Contact details, tip-off submissions, email correspondence, and location notes provided voluntarily by readers contacting our reporting desks.
• Candidate Information: CVs, contact details, work samples, and background summaries sent voluntarily by applicants seeking editorial or commercial roles.
• Technical & Analytic Data: IP addresses, browser types, referral paths, time spent on pages, and basic non-identifying telemetry collected automatically when accessing our web properties.

4. Journalism and Freedom of Expression Exemption

As an accredited independent news organization, processing personal data solely for journalistic purposes is exempt from certain UK GDPR provisions under Schedule 2, Part 5 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (the “Special Purposes Exemption”). This ensures the protection of investigative reporting, public interest documentation, press freedom, and the confidentiality of journalistic sources.

5. Lawful Bases for Processing

Where processing falls outside journalistic exemptions, we rely on the following lawful bases under UK GDPR Article 6:

• Contractual Necessity: Processing partner details to execute advertising retainer agreements, billing, and campaign deliverables.
• Legitimate Interests: Operating, diagnosing, and securing our digital media infrastructure, preventing fraud, and communicating with regional business stakeholders.
• Consent: Where individuals explicitly opt in to newsletters, specific alert networks, or voluntary direct messaging threads.
• Legal Obligation: Retaining mandatory accounting, tax, and invoicing records for statutory UK regulatory authorities.

6. Social Platforms and Community Groups

The BPL Group administers public Facebook pages, community discussion groups, and interactive social channels (including Images of Blackpool, Blackpool Bulletin, and What’s on Blackpool). Please note:

• Public posts, comments, photos, and reactions submitted in open groups are visible to the public and are co-controlled by the host platform (Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd) under their terms of service.
• We do not extract, export, or sell member profiles from community forums to third parties.
• Our moderation teams retain full editorial discretion to remove commentary, spam, or abusive material that violates community standards or UK defamation laws.

7. Cookies and Measurement

Our digital platforms use essential cookies to maintain site security, speed, and basic server operations. We may also utilize aggregate web analytics tools to measure local traffic patterns and page popularity. We do not sell your personal browsing history to third-party data broker networks.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was gathered:

• Commercial contract and accounting records: Retained for up to 6 years in compliance with UK tax regulations.
• Unsolicited job applications: Retained for up to 6 months before secure deletion.
• Reader contact emails and general queries: Periodically purged once resolution is achieved.

9. Your Statutory Rights

Under UK data protection law, you hold several rights regarding your data (subject to applicable legal and journalistic exemptions):

• The right to access the personal data we hold about you (Subject Access Request).
• The right to rectification of inaccurate or outdated details.
• The right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) under qualifying circumstances.
• The right to restrict or object to certain non-journalistic data processing.

To exercise any of these rights, submit your request to partners@thebplgroup.uk with clear identification details.

10. Regulatory Oversight

If you are not satisfied with how we process your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK supervisory authority: