The basics
What cookies are
Cookies are small text files that a website stores in your browser. Some are needed for a site to work, for example to keep you logged in to an account. Others are used to measure how a site is used or to show advertising. Similar technologies, such as local storage, work in much the same way, and this policy covers them too.
In the UK, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) require a website to ask for your consent before setting any cookie that is not strictly necessary, and to tell you clearly what each one does. That is the purpose of this page.
Cookies can be first party, set by the website you are visiting, or third party, set by a service embedded in it. They can last only until you close the browser, or persist for a set period. The table below says who sets each cookie that may appear on this site and what it is for, so you can decide for yourself whether you are comfortable with it.
This website
The cookies we use
We keep this website deliberately light. It does not use analytics cookies, advertising cookies or social media tracking pixels. The only cookies that may be set fall into the groups below.
| Group | Set by | Purpose | Needs consent? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site administration | This website (WordPress) | Keeps staff logged in while updating the site. Visitors who do not log in do not receive them. | No, strictly necessary |
| Enquiry form | Our enquiry form provider, inside the embedded form | Lets the multi-step form remember your answers between steps and protects it from spam. | No, strictly necessary for the form you are using |
Our approach
Why we keep it this light
A rooflight website does not need to follow you around the internet. People come here to read about a product, check the planning position or send us an enquiry, and none of that needs tracking. Keeping the site free of analytics and advertising cookies also means there is no consent banner standing between you and the page, which makes the site quicker and easier to use on a phone.
We still want to know whether the site is useful, and we find that out the old-fashioned way: by asking the people who get in touch how they found us and what they were looking for.
Third parties
Links and embedded services
When you choose to message us on WhatsApp, you leave this website and the WhatsApp service applies its own cookie and privacy terms. The same is true of any external website we link to, such as the Planning Portal or GOV.UK, which set their own cookies under their own policies.
The enquiry form on our pages is provided by our customer records system and shown in an embedded frame. The provider processes the information you enter on our behalf, as described in our privacy policy.
Check for yourself
Seeing what a page stores
If you would like to confirm what this site sets, most desktop browsers have developer tools that show the cookies and storage for the page you are on. In Chrome, Edge and Firefox they open with the F12 key; look for the Application or Storage tab. On a phone, the browser's site settings list the data each site has stored and let you clear it.
Cookies set inside the embedded enquiry form belong to the form provider's own address, so they appear under that address rather than ours. They are used only while you complete the form.
Your control
Managing cookies in your browser
Every modern browser lets you see the cookies a site has set, delete them and block them, either for all sites or for particular ones. The settings are usually found under Privacy or Security in the browser menu. Blocking strictly necessary cookies may stop parts of a website working; on this site, it may stop the enquiry form remembering your answers between steps, in which case you can contact us by email or WhatsApp instead.
This website's own scripts store nothing in your browser. The WhatsApp form composes your message on the page and only sends it when you press the button, through WhatsApp itself.
Changes
If we change how cookies are used
If we ever add analytics or any other cookie that is not strictly necessary, we will ask for your consent before it is set, with a clear choice to accept or decline, and we will update this page first. The date at the top shows when it was last revised.
Questions about cookies or privacy can be sent to info@solentskylightssouthampton.co.uk.
