Privacy and your data
Test pilot · Updated 9 September 2026
This notice explains the current implementation. Items awaiting confirmation are stated explicitly; this is not a claim that the pilot is ready for public use.
About this pilot
Tell Us is a Love Clean Streets / bbits test pilot. Reports submitted here are for testing only and will not be actioned. This notice describes the current test build, not a live council service. The existing Love Clean Streets policy identifies Blackburn IT Services Ltd t/a bbits and names Love Clean Streets as controller. Its privacy contact is support@lovecleanstreets.com. The lawful basis and controller/processor arrangements for this new AI pilot require confirmation before public launch. Do not use this pilot for sensitive real-world reports until those arrangements are confirmed.
What we save and why
When you send a message or speak to the assistant, we save the conversation text, including transcribed speech, and the assistant’s replies. We also save report descriptions, locations, authority questions and answers, photos and their filenames, photo-check results and explanations, your email and verification status, a browser/device identifier, review and submission status, report references, timestamps and AI usage/cost records. This supports report preparation, recovery after a disconnect, validation, duplicate prevention and pilot evaluation. Original messages remain while the report is in progress, even if the description is reworded. After the reporting API returns a successful report reference, new submissions discard the saved conversation and extracted quotation evidence from our draft record. The approved report, photos, reference and review record remain until their retention period expires. Submitted report data in the Love Clean Streets reporting system is kept in UK data centres. Relevant evidence should be included in the approved report before submission.
Voice, photos and permissions
Our service does not persist raw microphone recordings to its draft database or photo storage. Spoken Dialog temporarily records audio in the browser and sends it for transcription; Realtime voice streams audio to OpenAI. Transcripts are saved. Provider retention is separate from our storage; see OpenAI processing below for the different text, photo and audio rules. Camera, microphone and current-location access require browser or app permission. Photos are stored and sent for AI checking; we do not currently automatically blur faces, number plates or strip all photo metadata. Include only information needed for the report.
Where information is processed
Submitted report data in the Love Clean Streets reporting system is stored in UK data centres, as confirmed by bbits. When run locally, assistant drafts and photo copies are held on the development machine. In the hosted ChatGPT Sites pilot, these copies use Sites-managed database and photo storage; their UK residency has not been verified. AI processing uses OpenAI’s API at api.openai.com and is not restricted to the UK by this build. For the live service, our intention is to use UK data centres for assistant hosting and UK AI processing where the required models and features are available. This is a planned approach, not a guarantee for the pilot. Any processing outside the UK, and the applicable safeguards, must be identified in the live notice before launch. Lookups, email verification and approved test reports use apitest.mediaklik.com. OpenStreetMap receives tile requests, including map area and normal connection information such as IP address. UK report storage does not mean every provider processes data in the UK.
OpenAI processing
API content is not used for training by default; optional sharing is a separate organisation setting. Our text/photo requests use store:false. This disables stored Responses history, not all provider retention. OpenAI lists up to 30 days of abuse-monitoring retention for Responses, speech generation and Realtime, with longer retention possible for legal or safety reasons. The audio transcription endpoint lists no abuse-monitoring or application-state retention; this does not cover the subsequent text conversation. Eligible customers can apply for Zero Data Retention (ZDR), which excludes content from abuse-monitoring logs subject to endpoint, model and safety exceptions. Images flagged as potential child sexual abuse material may be retained for review even with ZDR. Prompt caching may also have separate retention rules. We have not verified optional sharing or ZDR for this pilot’s organisation/project. Deleting our draft does not delete provider copies.
When information is sent to the reporting system
Lookups and email verification contact the test reporting API before final submission. The completed report, verified email, location, configured answers and attached photos are submitted only after you review and explicitly confirm. The submission payload does not include the full conversation transcript or raw voice recording. Report updates use your verified email. AI helps prepare the report; it does not decide what action the authority will take.
Retention and starting over
Assistant drafts and their conversations, photos and linked usage records expire after seven days without changes. Confirmed submitted copies expire one year after their last activity in this assistant. Reading a report does not extend its lifetime. Cleanup runs when the pilot loads a draft; an hourly scheduled cleanup handler is also configured for hosting, but its execution on ChatGPT Sites has not yet been verified. While the service is stopped, cleanup waits until it runs again. Deletion failures are retried. Reports that are submitting or awaiting reconciliation are held for resolution to prevent duplicate submissions. Conversation text and extracted quotation evidence are removed after successful submission with a report reference. These rules also apply to older local pilot records. They remove active assistant storage, not provider copies, backups or the council reporting-system record. The existing Love Clean Streets policy specifies one year after last activity for reporting-system records and account data until removal is requested; this assistant does not administer those backend policies or observe subsequent council updates. Start over ends the voice session and creates a new draft; the old draft remains subject to expiry. Removing a photo deletes its active assistant copy, but cannot recall copies already sent. Cookie expiry is separate from data deletion.
Cookies and access
A necessary first-party cookie named lcs_guest identifies an anonymous browser session and has a 30-day lifetime. It is used to retrieve your drafts; do not clear it if you want to return to the same draft. Reporter email verification is separate and may be specific to the browser/device. This build has no implemented advertising or marketing tracking features.
Your rights and questions
Depending on the applicable law and lawful basis, you may have rights to access, correct, erase or restrict your personal data, object to processing and complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Rights are not absolute. This pilot does not yet have a self-service export/deletion workflow. The published privacy contact is support@lovecleanstreets.com; the assistant cannot erase records or confirm that a rights request has been completed. AI-specific retention, lawful basis, processor agreements and international-transfer safeguards must be confirmed before public launch.
Further information
Existing Love Clean Streets privacy policy · OpenAI API data controls · ICO: your data protection rights