Cookie Policy
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of data, stored in text files, that are stored on your computer or other device when a website is loaded within your chosen browser. They are widely used to ‘remember’ you and your preferences, either for a single visit (through a ’session cookie’) or for multiple repeat visits (using a ‘persistent cookie’). They ensure a consistent and efficient experience for visitors, and perform essential functions such as allowing users to register and remain logged in. Cookies may be set by the site that you are visiting (known as ‘first party cookies’), or by other websites who serve up content on that site (‘third party cookies’).
What is Cookie Control?
You may notice that our website utilises a third party Cookie preference tool called ‘Cookie Control’. Cookie Control is a mechanism for controlling user consent and the use of cookies on this website application.
When (as the user) you consent to one of the optional cookie categories, Cookie Control will place a cookie to remember that decision. The name of the cookie will be the name of the category specified within the Cookie Control widget itself. That cookie will be removed when you (the user) revokes consent to that category.
What are ‘Strictly Necessary Cookies’?
These are the cookies that are essential for this website to perform its basic functions. These include those required to allow registered users to authenticate and perform account related functions, as well as to save the contents of virtual ‘carts’ on sites that have an e-commerce functionality.
Strictly Necessary Cookies are highlighted with a double asterisk (**) in the tables below:
Cookies set by WordPress
| Cookie Name | Description | Duration |
| wordpress_<hash> ** | On login, wordpress uses the wordpress_[hash] cookie to store your authentication details. Its use is limited to the admin console area, /wp-admin/ | 2 years |
| wordpress_logged_in_<hash> ** | After login, wordpress sets the wordpress_logged_in_<hash> cookie, which indicates when you’re logged in, and who you are, for most interface use. | Session |
| wp-settings-<time>-<UID> ** | WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-<time>-<UID> cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface. | Session |
| WordPress_google_apps_login ** | This cookie is set by the plugin ‘Google Apps Login for WordPress’ and may be present for users who login to WordPress via their Google or GSuite account. | Session |
| wordpress_test_cookie | Used to check whether your web browser is set to allow, or reject cookies. | Session |
| wpe-auth |
Cookies set by Google Analytics
| Cookie Name | Description | Duration |
| _ga | Used to distinguish users. | 2 years |
| _gid | Used to distinguish users. | 24 hours |
| _gat | Used to throttle request rate. If Google Analytics is deployed via Google Tag Manager, this cookie will be named _dc_gtm_<property-id>. | 1 minute |
| AMP_TOKEN | Contains a token that can be used to retrieve a Client ID from AMP Client ID service. Other possible values indicate opt-out, inflight request or an error retrieving a Client ID from AMP Client ID service. | 30 seconds to 1 year |
| _gac_<property-id> | Contains campaign related information for the user. If you have linked your Google Analytics and AdWords accounts, AdWords website conversion tags will read this cookie unless you opt-out. Learn more. | 90 days |
| _gaexp | Optimize 360 – Used to determine a user’s inclusion in an experiment and the expiry of experiments a user has been included in. | 90 days |
Cookies set by CloudFlare
| Cookie Name | Description | Duration |
| __cfduid ** | The __cfduid cookie is used to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. | 1 years |
Cookies set by Hotjar
| Cookie Name | Description | Duration |
| _hjClosedSurveyInvites | Hotjar cookie. This cookie is set once a visitor interacts with a Survey invitation modal popup. It is used to ensure that the same invite does not reappear if it has already been shown. | 365 days |
| _hjDonePolls | Hotjar cookie. This cookie is set once a visitor completes a poll using the Feedback Poll widget. It is used to ensure that the same poll does not reappear if it has already been filled in. | 365 days |
| _hjMinimizedPolls | Hotjar cookie. This cookie is set once a visitor minimizes a Feedback Poll widget. It is used to ensure that the widget stays minimizes when the visitor navigates through your site. | 365 days |
| _hjDoneTestersWidgets | Hotjar cookie. This cookie is set once a visitor submits their information in the Recruit User Testers widget. It is used to ensure that the same form does not re-appear if it has already been filled in. | 365 days |
| _hjMinimizedTestersWidgets | Hotjar cookie. This cookie is set once a visitor minimizes a Recruit User Testers widget. It is used to ensure that the widget stays minimizes when the visitor navigates through your site. | 365 days |
| _hjIncludedInSample | Hotjar cookie. This session cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the sample which is used to generate funnels. | 365 days |
| _hjShownFeedbackMessage | This cookie is set when a visitor minimizes or completes Incoming Feedback. This is done so that the Incoming Feedback will load as minimized immediately if they navigate to another page where it is set to show. | 365 days |
| _hjid | Hotjar cookie. This cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the random user ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID. | 365 days |
Cookies set by Optimizely
| Cookie Name | Description | Duration |
| optimizelyBuckets | Records the Optimizely Classic variation that the visitor has seen for each experiment. This allows us to deliver a consistent experience on successive page loads. | 6 months |
| optimizelyEndUserId | Stores a visitor’s unique Optimizely identifier, for both Optimizely Classic and Optimizely X Web. It’s a combination of a timestamp and random number. No other information about you or your visitors is stored inside. | 6 months |
| optimizelyPendingLogEvents | Used as a cache for a visitor’s actions between tracking calls. This ensures that all events are efficiently tracked even if a visitor takes many actions in rapid succession. The cookie is wiped once the tracking call has been made. | 15 seconds |
| optimizelyRedirect | After Optimizely Classic has executed a redirect experiment, stores the variation ID of the redirect experiment, so that Optimizely can pass it into integrated technology platforms along with the variation IDs that are active on the new page. This is necessary because the redirect experiment is usually inactive on the new page. | 5 seconds |
| optimizelyReferrer | After Optimizely Classic has executed a redirect experiment, stores the document.referrer property from the original page, so that Optimizely can pass it into integrated technology platforms. This is how we avoid creating “self-referrals” in your third-party analytics. | 5 seconds |
| optimizelySegments | Persists the visitor’s Optimizely Classic segments: browser, campaign, mobile, source type, and any custom dimensions that you may have configured. This allows us to ensure persistence of segment membership, which improves the accuracy of segmented results. | 6 months |
Miscellaneous Cookies
| Cookie Name | Description | Duration |
| complianceCookie | Used to distinguish your acknowledgement of our website’s Cookie Banner and subsequent policy (this document). | 14 days |
How to change your Cookie preferences
The most popular web browsers typically provide additional tools to users for controlling or restricting cookies on their device. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, you can visit www.aboutcookies.org.
Find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:
To find information relating to other browsers, visit the browser developer’s website.
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
How to contact us
If you would like to exercise one of your rights as set out earlier in this policy, or you have a question or a complaint about this policy, the way your personal information is processed, please contact us by one of the following means:
By email: [email protected]
By post: Thomson Environmental Consultants, Compass House, Surrey Research Park Guildford Surrey, GU2 7AG