What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer, tablet or mobile device by websites that you visit. They are widely used to make websites work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

We use cookies on our site to:

Store information needed to make the site work properly
Find out how people are using the site
Remember your cookie preferences

The analytics information we collect is used to understand how people use our website and is not intended to identify you personally.

Some cookies are set by third-party services that we use on our website, such as Google and Microsoft.

Controlling and deleting cookies

You can control which optional cookies you allow through our cookie settings. You can change your preferences at any time.

Most web browsers also allow some control of cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit About Cookies to see how to delete and control cookies stored on your computer.

Find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:

Other websites that this site links to may also use cookies. Please check those websites for their own cookie policies.

Necessary

Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions such as page navigation, security and website functionality. The website may not work properly without these cookies.

These cookies are not used for analytics or marketing purposes.

Cookies used

AWSALBCORS: Used to help allocate website traffic between available servers to optimise website performance and response times.

Duration: 7 days

ASP.NET_Session: A session cookie used by websites built using Microsoft .NET technologies to maintain an anonymised user session.

Duration: Session

.AspNetCore.Antiforgery: A security cookie used to help protect the website against cross-site request forgery.

Duration: Session

__RequestVerificationToken: A security cookie used by web applications to help prevent unauthorised form submissions.

Duration: Session

Analytics

We use analytics services to collect information about how visitors use our website. This helps us understand how the website is being used and improve our content and services.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics collects information about how visitors use our website. This includes information such as the number of visitors, where visitors have come from and the pages they have visited.

The information is used for statistical purposes to help us understand how our website is performing.

Cookies used

_ga: Used by Google Analytics to identify users for statistical and analytical purposes.

Duration: 1 year

_gid: Used by Google Analytics for analytics purposes.

Duration: 24 hours

_gat_UA-21613820-1: Used to monitor Google Analytics server requests.

Duration: 58 seconds

_ga_DC0WM84034: Used by Google Analytics to collect statistical information about website use.

Duration: 1 year

Microsoft Clarity

We use Microsoft Clarity to understand how visitors use our website. This helps us improve the website and understand how well our content and services meet users' needs.

Microsoft Clarity can provide information such as the number of visitors, where visitors came from and which pages they visited. The information is collected in an anonymous form.

Cookies used

_clck: Used by Microsoft Clarity to store information about how visitors use the website and help create analytics reports.

Duration: 1 year

_clsk: Used by Microsoft Clarity to store information about how visitors use the website and help create analytics reports.

Duration: 24 hours

SM: Used by Microsoft for internal website analytics.

Duration: Session

Marketing

Marketing cookies may be used by third-party services to support advertising, measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and provide more relevant advertising.

Our cookie scan identified marketing cookies associated with Microsoft/Bing and Google advertising services. These include cookies such as MUID, MR, SRM_B, ANONCHK, _gcl_au and test_cookie.

Microsoft/Bing

Microsoft's cookies may be used for advertising, analytics and operational purposes. For example, the MUID cookie identifies unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites and may be used for advertising and analytics.

MUID: Used to identify a unique web browser and support advertising, analytics and operational purposes.

Duration: 1 year

MR: Used by Microsoft for analytics purposes.

Duration: 7 days

SRM_B: Used by Microsoft for advertising and personalisation purposes.

Duration: 1 year

ANONCHK: Used to store a session ID and help verify clicks from Bing adverts for reporting and personalisation.

Duration: 10 minutes

Google advertising services

Google advertising services may use cookies for advertising, campaign measurement and related purposes.

_gcl_au: Used by Google advertising services for advertising-related purposes.

Duration: 3 months

test_cookie: Used by DoubleClick, which is owned by Google, to check whether a visitor's browser supports cookies.

Duration: 15 minutes

Other cookies associated with Google advertising services may also be used. These can include cookies used for advertising, campaign measurement and optimisation.

Changing your cookie preferences

You can choose whether to accept optional analytics and marketing cookies when you visit our website.

If you have previously accepted or rejected optional cookies, you can change your preferences at any time using our Cookie settings.

Necessary cookies cannot be switched off through our cookie settings because they are required for the website to function properly.

How we check our cookies

We regularly review the cookies used on our website.

Our latest Civica cookie scan was carried out on 13 August 2026 and identified cookies associated with AWS, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Microsoft/Bing and Google advertising services.

Cookie scanning software cannot guarantee that every cookie will be identified. We therefore review our website configuration and services where appropriate.

The cookies used on our website may change when we introduce new services or make changes to existing services. We will update this page when necessary.

Last updated: 13 August 2026

Planning Policy