Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your computer or mobile device by a website server. It can only be read by that server and it cannot be used to identify you personally.

Cookies are used on this website to help it work properly. Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but if you block cookies parts of this website will not work properly.

We also use analytics cookies to collect anonymous statistics about how people use our website to help us maintain and improve the website.

Opting out of using cookies

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. You can set your browser to refuse all cookies or to notify you before receiving a cookie so that you can decide whether to accept it. Your browser may have settings allowing you to manage cookies on a site-by-site basis. For example, Google Chrome’s settings allow you to delete existing cookies, allow or block all cookies, and set cookie preferences for websites. Google Chrome also has Incognito mode, which doesn’t store your Chrome history of visited sites or cookies on your device after you close all Incognito windows.

However, blocking cookies may affect how our site functions, the search will not work, some of the sections such as Find my nearest and the online planning system will not work, and the social media share icons on new items will not work.

Cookies we use

We use Google Analytics and Siteimprove to collect information about how people use the website. These statistics are used to understand how people use our website and how we can make improvements so it continues to meet our users needs. the analytics tools record information about which pages you visit, how long you are on the website, and how you got there. We do not store any personal information and cannot be used to identify who you are.

Category Details
Necessary Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website and its subdomains cannot function properly without these cookies.
Preferences Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
Analytics Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
Marketing Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display adverts that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
Unclassified Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.

 

Cookies used on the main website - https://www.westsuffolk.gov.uk

Category: Necessary

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
CSRFTOKEN Provider: westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type: HTTP
Expiry: Session
Cookie purpose description: Helps prevent cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks.
JSESSIONID Provider: westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type: HTTP
Expiry: Session
Cookie purpose description: Used to maintain an anonymous user session by the server.
WSUSERCONSENT Provider: westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type:
Expiry:
Cookie purpose description: This has three states, waiting, accepted, and rejected:
  • Waiting: Waiting for the user to accept or reject cookies being set. While this cookie is ‘Waiting’ the notification banner will appear on every page until a choice has been made.
  • Accepted: The user has allowed cookies to be set. The notification banner will also be removed.
  • Rejected: The user disallowed cookies being set. The notification banner will also be removed.

Category: Analytics

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
_ga
_ga_
Provider: westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 2 years
Cookie purpose description: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.
_gat_gtag_ Provider: westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 1 hour
Cookie purpose description: Used by Google Analytics to set and get tracking data.
_gid Provider: westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 24 hours
Cookie purpose description: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.

Category: Marketing

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
_gsas Provider: westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 3 months
Cookie purpose description: Google Provides ad delivery or retargeting.

Google search

Cookies are set when you use search. These are necessary for the search to work.

We do not use adverts on our website.

personalizedAds is an attribute used when the cookie is set. It specifies whether users have consented to allowing the publisher to share personal information with Google for the purpose of personalized advertising.

We have set personalizedAds to false which returns only query targeted ads. This will not return any ads that are targeted with the user's Google cookies.

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
NID Provider: google.com
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 6 months
Cookie purpose description: Some cookies are used to maintain a user’s preferences. For example, most people who use Google services have a cookie called ‘NID’ in their browsers. This cookie contains a unique ID used to remember your preferences and other information such as your preferred language, how many search results you prefer to have shown on a results page (for example, 10 or 20), and whether you want to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on.
__Secure-3PAPISID

__Secure-3PSID

__Secure-3PSIDCC
__Secure-3PSIDTS
Provider: google.com
Type: Marketing
Expiry: 2 years
Cookie purpose description: Targeting cookies. Used to create a user profile and display relevant and personalised Google Ads to the user. Targeted advertisements may be displayed to you based on your previous visits to this website. For example, advertisements about a topic you have expressed an interest in while browsing our site may be displayed to you across the web.

For more information, please visit Google - How Google uses information from sites or apps that use their service

If you wish to disable DoubleClick cookies on your browser, please visit Google - Ad Settings.

 

Social media sharing

Some of our news items have social media share icons. If you visit one of these pages the following cookies enable you to share news items on social media.

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
__atuvc Provider: AddThis social sharing widget
Type:
Expiry: 2 years
Cookie purpose description: This cookie is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget. This widget is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. It stores an updated page share count.
__atuvs Provider: AddThis social sharing widget
Type:
Expiry: 2 years
Cookie purpose description: This cookie is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget which is commonly embedded in websites to enable visitors to share content with a range of networking and sharing platforms. This is believed to be a new cookie from AddThis which is not yet documented, but has been categorised on the assumption it serves a similar purpose to other cookies set by the service.

 

Cookies used on the systems linked to from the West Suffolk Council website

Find my nearest - https://maps.westsuffolk.gov.uk

Category: Necessary

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
__cfduid Provider: siteimproveanalytics.com
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 30 days
Cookie purpose description: Used by the content network, Cloud flare, to identify trusted web traffic.

 

ASP.NET_SessionId Provider: maps.westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type: HTTP
Expiry: Session
Cookie purpose description: Preserves the visitor's session state across page requests.

AWSELB

Provider: global.siteimproveanalytics.io
Type: HTTP
Expiry: Session
Cookie purpose description: Used to distribute traffic to the website on several servers in order to optimise response times.
AWSELBCORS Provider: global.siteimproveanalytics.io
Type: HTTP
Expiry: Session
CONSENT Provider: google.com
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 6105 days
Cookie purpose description: Used to detect if the visitor has accepted the marketing category in the cookie banner. This cookie is necessary for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance of the website.

 

Category: Analytics

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
_ga Provider: google-analytics.com
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 2 years
Cookie purpose description: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.

 

_gat Provider: google-analytics.com
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 1 day
Cookie purpose description: Used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate.

 

_gid Provider: google-analytics.com
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 1 day
Cookie purpose description: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.

 

image.aspx Provider: global.siteimproveanalytics.io
Type: HTTP
Expiry: Session
Cookie purpose description: Registers statistical data on visitors' behaviour on the website. Used for internal analytics by the website operator.

 

nmstat Provider: uk1.siteimprove.com
Type: HTTP
Expiry: 999 days
Cookie purpose description: This cookie contains an ID string on the current session . This contains non-personal information on what subpages the visitor enters – this information is used to optimize the visitor's experience.

 

Category: Unclassified

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
astun Provider: maps.westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type: HTTP
Expiry: Session
Cookie purpose description: unclassified

 

 

Licensing public register - https://regulatory.westsuffolk.gov.uk/

No cookies are used.

 

MiHR - External access to employees self service system - https://selfservice.westsuffolk.gov.uk

No cookies are used.

 

Councillors and meetings system - Modern.gov - https://democracy.westsuffolk.gov.uk

Category: Necessary

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
ASP.NET_SessionId Provider: democracy.westsuffolk.gov.uk
Type: HTTP
Expiry: Session
Cookie purpose description: Preserves the visitor's session state across page requests.

 

 

Online forms - westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Category: Necessary

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
AWSALB

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: 6 days

Cookie purpose description: Registers which server-cluster is serving the visitor. This is used in context with load balancing, in order to optimize user experience.

AWSALBCORS

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: 6 days

Cookie purpose description: Registers which server-cluster is serving the visitor. This is used in context with load balancing, in order to optimize user experience.

PHPSESSID

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Preserves users session state across page requests.

SESS#

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: 1 day

Cookie purpose description: Preserves users states across page requests.

Category: Statistics

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
_ga

Provider: achieveservice.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: 2 years

Cookie purpose description: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.

_gat

Provider: achieveservice.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: 1 day

Cookie purpose description: Used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate.

_gid

Provider: achieveservice.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: 1 day

Cookie purpose description: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.

Category: Unclassified

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
APP_LANG

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: 1 day

Cookie purpose description: Unclassified

authKey

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTML

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Unclassified

council

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTML

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Unclassified

localtime

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTML

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Unclassified

SessionStorageTest

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTML

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Unclassified

SiteSettingsCache

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTML

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Unclassified

SiteSettings-CustomCssInline

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTML

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Unclassified

SiteSettings-CustomIFrameCss

Provider: westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com

Type: HTML

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Unclassified

 

Outlook forms

Category: Necessary

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
ClientId

Provider: outlook.office365.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: 1 year

Cookie purpose description: Determines the device used to access the website. This allows the website to be formatted accordingly.

OIDC

Provider: outlook.office365.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: 6 months

Cookie purpose description: Control cookie used in connection to the website’s Content Delivery Network (CDN).

amp_cookie_test#

Provider: outlook.office365.com

Type: HTTP

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Registers statistical data on users' behaviour on the website. Used for internal analytics by the website operator.

 

Planning applications system Public Access - https://planning.westsuffolk.gov.uk

Category: Necessary

Cookie name Provider, type, expiry period and cookie purpose description
JSESSIONID

Provider: planning.westsuffolk.gov.uk

Type: HTTP

Expiry: Session

Cookie purpose description: Preserves users states across page requests.

 

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a simple, easy-to-use tool that helps website owners measure how users interact with website content. As a user navigates between web pages, Google Analytics provides website owners JavaScript tags (libraries) to record information about the page a user has seen, for example the URL of the page. The Google Analytics JavaScript libraries use HTTP cookies to 'remember' what a user has done on previous pages and interactions with the website.

You can opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Google analytics cookies Domain, expiry period and description
__utma

Domain: westsuffolk.gov.uk

Expires: 2 years from set or update

Description: Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics

__utmb

Domain: westsuffolk.gov.uk

Expires: 30 mins from set or update

Description: Used to determine new sessions or visits. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics

__utmc

Domain: westsuffolk.gov.uk

Expires: end of browser session

Description: Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js. Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether the user was in a new session or visit.

__utmt

Domain: westsuffolk.gov.uk

Expires: 10 minutes

Description: Used to throttle request rate.

__utmv

Domain: westsuffolk.gov.uk

Expires: 2 years from set or update

Description: Used to store visitor-level custom variable data. This cookie is created when a developer uses the _setCustomVar method with a visitor level custom variable. This cookie was also used for the deprecated _setVar method. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.

__utmz

Domain: westsuffolk.gov.uk

Expires: 6 months from set or update

Description: Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.

Read the Google Analytics privacy document for more details about the data collected by Google Analytics.

 

Siteimprove

We use Siteimprove to monitor accessibility and quality of content on our websites, so we can deal with any issues as quickly as possible.

Siteimprove - analytics cookies Expiry time and domain
nmstat

Expires: Persistent – expires after 1,000 days

Domain: westsuffolk.gov.uk

siteimproveses

Expires: end of session

Domain: siteimprove.com

szcookiechoice

Expires: end of session

Domain: siteimprove.com

 

YouTube

We use YouTube to embed video on our website. YouTube inserts these cookies for keeping track of visitors, user preferences and collecting statistics about views. They can't be used to identify you. See Google privacy policy for information.

YouTube cookies Expiry time and domain
HSID

Expires: 20 years

Domain: youtube.com

LOGIN_INFO

Expires: 20 years

Domain: youtube.com

PREF

Expires: 20 years

Domain: youtube.com

SID

Expires: 20 years

Domain: youtube.com

SSID

Expires: 20 years

Domain: youtube.com

VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE

Expires: 6 months

Domain: youtube.com

use_hitbox

Expires: end of session

Domain: youtube.com

For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit the All About Cookies website