Privacy Policy - Western Sydney Planning

Last updated 22 July 2026

Western Sydney Planning (we, us, our) provides town planning and development advisory services across New South Wales. This policy explains how we handle personal information, and applies to our website and to the services we provide.

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

What we collect

We only collect personal information that we reasonably need to provide our services and to respond to you. Depending on how you deal with us, that may include:

Contact details - your name, email address, phone number and the organisation you represent.
Enquiry details - the enquiry type and anything you choose to tell us about a site or project when you use our contact form, email us or call.
Engagement information - if you become a client, information relevant to the work, such as property addresses, ownership and title details, plans, survey and consultant reports, correspondence with councils and agencies, and instructions you give us.
Billing information - the details needed to invoice you and record payment.

We do not collect sensitive information (such as health or biometric information) and ask that you do not send it to us.

How we collect it

Usually directly from you - through our contact form, by email, by phone or in meetings. We may also collect information from third parties where it is necessary for the work, such as councils and government agencies, public registers and planning databases, or other consultants working on your project. Where we collect information about you from someone else, we take reasonable steps to make sure you are aware of it.

Why we use it

To respond to your enquiry and provide you with advice or a proposal.
To carry out the work you engage us to do, including preparing and lodging applications.
To correspond with councils, agencies and other parties on your behalf.
To issue invoices and manage our business records.
To meet our legal, professional and record-keeping obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for marketing unless you have asked us to.

Who we disclose it to

We may disclose personal information to:

Councils, government departments and agencies - as part of applications, submissions and correspondence made on your behalf.
Other consultants working on your project, such as architects, surveyors, engineers, heritage and traffic consultants.
Legal advisers and experts, including where a matter proceeds to the Land and Environment Court.
Our service providers, such as our website host and email provider (see below).
Others where you have consented, or where we are required or authorised by law.

Important - planning applications become public. Development applications, planning proposals and submissions lodged with a council or agency are generally placed on public exhibition and may be published on a council's website or its online planning portal. Material you give us for lodgement, including your name and the property address, will usually become publicly available as part of that process. This is a requirement of the planning system and is outside our control. If you have a concern about this, raise it with us before we lodge.

Overseas disclosure

Enquiries sent through our website contact form are delivered using an email service that processes messages on servers located in the United States. By sending an enquiry, you consent to that information being handled overseas for the purpose of delivering it to us. Our own email accounts are provided by Microsoft, which may store and process data in Australia and overseas. We take reasonable steps to use reputable providers with appropriate security practices.

Our website

We have deliberately kept this website simple:

We do not set cookies.
We do not run analytics, advertising or tracking of any kind.
We do not embed third-party scripts, fonts or trackers - everything the site needs is served from our own domain.

Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs, which may include IP addresses and browser information, for security and reliability purposes. We do not use those logs to identify individuals.

Our website may link to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites.

Storage and security

We store personal information in our email system and business files, protected by measures including access controls and multi-factor authentication. We take reasonable steps to protect information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information sent to us over the internet.

We keep information for as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, and for as long as we are required to keep it for legal, professional and insurance reasons. After that we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.

Access and correction

You can ask us for access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. Contact us using the details below. We will respond within a reasonable time. There are limited circumstances in which we may refuse access, in which case we will explain why in writing.

Complaints

If you think we have mishandled your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it. We will acknowledge your complaint and respond within a reasonable time.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always the one published on this page, with the date it was last updated shown at the top.

Contact us

Western Sydney Planning
Level 6, 150 George Street, Parramatta NSW 2150
Email hugh@westernsydneyplanning.com.au
Phone 0403 270 108