Plan✕ Terms of Use

Version 1.0 / Last updated July 2021

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Who we are

Plan✕ is owned and operated by Open Systems Lab (a non-profit company registered in England & Wales, 9152368) on behalf of its customers, who are  local planning authorities, who use the platform to create, publish and operate digital planning services.

Digital planning services on Plan✕   

You can use Plan✕ to access digital planning services, for example to submit a planning application to a local planning authority. These services are written and controlled by the relevant local planning authority. We are not responsible for the content of these planning services.

Some Plan✕ components may connect you to other external third party services (such as GOV.UK Pay). We are not responsible for these external services. You should read all terms & conditions, privacy policies and end user licences that relate to these services before using them.

Using Plan✕

By using Plan✕ you agree to these terms and to the End User Licence Agreement. If you do not agree with both of these agreements, you should stop using Plan✕ immediately.

You agree to use Plan✕ only for lawful purposes. 

We update the Plan✕ platform all the time. Similarly, planning authorities may change or remove content at any time without notice. We are not responsible for any loss of data you have already entered into Plan✕.

Your data is stored on Plan✕ only for as long as required for the purposes of exploring, preparing and submitting planning applications and other transactions. You are encouraged to keep your own back-up copy of any information you submit via Plan✕.

Linking to services on Plan✕

You may wish to link to services on Plan✕. You must contact us for permission if you want to:

• charge your website’s users to click on a link to any service on Plan✕
  
• say your website is associated or endorsed with Plan✕ or with any central or local government organisation.
  

Linking from services on Plan✕

Services on Plan✕ may contain links to other websites and services that are managed by other organisations. 

We do not control these websites, and are not responsible for any loss or damage that may come from your use of other websites. You should read all terms and conditions, privacy policies and end user licences before you use them.

Intellectual property & copyright

Plan✕ software is owned by Open Systems Lab under copyright. Some parts of this software may be published elsewhere under a different licence, but you should not attempt to use the Plan✕ service to extract or reverse engineer its software or to extract its content.

The content of services running on Plan✕ are owned by the publishers. In most cases these are published under Open Government Licence (OGL).

Ordnance Survey Maps and address data are the property of Ordnance Survey and are used under the terms of the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA). You may not copy, distribute or modify these maps or data except where such use is permitted by Ordnance Survey under another licence.

Trademarks

Local council logos are exempt from the OGL, and should not be used without permission.

Plan✕ is a protected trademark. You should not use it to represent yourself, your business or organisation, nor should you use it in such a way as to imply that you are affiliated with or endorsed by us.

Disclaimer

Neither we, nor local planning authorities publishing planning information via Plan✕ give any guarantees, conditions or warranties, express or implied
that the data, information or guidance provided on Plan✕ will be:

• up to date
• accurate
• complete
• fit for a specific purpose
• secure
• free from bugs or viruses

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, information published via Plan✕ does not constitute legal advice or an official planning decision. You should always contact your local planning authority and/or get professional advice.

We are not liable for any loss or damage whatsoever that may result from using Plan✕ or services running on Plan✕. This includes: 

• direct, indirect or consequential loss
• any loss or damage cause my civil wrongs (’tort’, including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise
• your use of Plan✕ or linked websites or services
• your inability to use Plan✕ or linked websites or services

Privacy & data protection

We will always take all reasonable measures to protect personal, sensitive or confidential data that you share via Plan✕.

By using Plan✕ you agree to our privacy policy and cookie policy. 

Virus protection

We make every effort to check and test Plan✕ for viruses at every stage of production. You must make sure that the way you use Plan✕ does not expose you to the risk of viruses, malicious computer code or other forms of interference which can damage your computer system.

We’re not responsible for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or computer system that might happen when you use Plan✕.

Viruses, hacking & other offences

When using Plan✕, you must not introduce viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or any other material that’s malicious or harmful to the service, its operators or users.

You must not try to gain unauthorised access to Plan✕ or any server, computer or database connected to it. You must not attack Plan✕ in any way. This includes denial-of-service attacks.

We will report any attacks or attempts to gain unauthorised access to Plan✕ to the relevant law enforcement authorities and share information about you with them.

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General

These terms and conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

Any dispute you have which relates to these terms and conditions, or your use of GOV.UK (whether it be contractual or non-contractual), will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

We’re not liable if we fail to comply with these terms and conditions because of circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

If any of these terms and conditions are held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining terms and conditions will still apply.

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Changes to these terms and conditions

Please check these terms and conditions regularly. We can update them at any time without notice. By continuing to use Plan✕ you agree to the amended Terms of Use and End User Licence Agreement.