Great question — and a completely fair one. When we started, collecting email addresses was enough to keep residents in the loop with general news. But we've grown, and so have our ambitions for what we can do for the community. To campaign effectively at street level — for example, objecting to a planning application on your road, or alerting only the residents affected by a local issue — we need to know which street you live on. Similarly, for urgent time-sensitive alerts, a text message reaches you far faster than an email. We're asking for these details now because we want to do more for you, not because anything has changed about how we handle your data. Everything is still encrypted, secure, and GDPR-compliant.

Your address does three things for us. First, it tells us which street you're on, so we can send you notices and campaign updates that are actually relevant to your road rather than blasting everyone in Ellenbrook with information they don't need. Second, it helps us demonstrate to the council and other bodies exactly how many households on a given street are affected by a particular issue — which carries considerably more weight than a vague number. Third, it helps us plan our volunteer campaigns more efficiently, so we're not sending three field workers to the same cul-de-sac. We will never publish your address, share it with advertisers, or use it for anything other than EARA community work.

Your concern is completely understandable, and we take it seriously. Email addresses and mobile numbers are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM — the same standard used by banks and government services. Even if someone gained unauthorised access to our database, they could not read those fields without the encryption key. All access to resident records is strictly controlled: only named EARA committee members have full access, and field workers can only see the information relevant to their assigned streets. We are fully compliant with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. You can read our full Privacy Policy at ellenbrookresidents.org/privacy-policy

Absolutely not — it is entirely optional. Registering without a mobile number is perfectly fine. The mobile number only unlocks one thing: the ability to receive occasional SMS alerts for genuinely urgent local matters, such as an unexpected road closure or a planning consultation deadline. If you'd rather not receive texts from us, simply leave the field blank. You won't miss anything that we won't also send by email to those who have opted in.

You don't need to start from scratch. If you've received a personalised link from EARA by email, clicking it will open this form with your existing details already filled in — just check they're correct, add your address and mobile number if you're happy to, and hit submit. If you're visiting the page directly without a personalised link, you can still fill in the form and your record will be updated. We apologise for the slight inconvenience — it's a one-off request, and once done, you won't be asked again unless something changes.

Yes — and we'd encourage it. The form has an "Add Another Person" button that lets you register multiple adults at the same address in a single submission. Each person must be 18 or over and gives their own consent for communications. Please do not register children — we only hold data for adults. Every adult registered will receive their own confirmation email. Registering your household in one go saves time and means everyone benefits from street-level updates.

Easily. You can return to this page at any time and submit updated details. If you'd like your record deleted entirely, simply email us at info@ellenbrookresidents.org with the subject line "Delete my record" and we will remove all your personal data within 48 hours. Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct, or delete any data we hold about you — no questions asked. You can also withdraw your consent for email or SMS communications at any time by emailing us or clicking the unsubscribe link in any email we send.

No. We will never share your personal details — name, address, email, or mobile number — with the council, other organisations, or anyone else. When we engage with local authorities on your behalf, we share aggregated, anonymised information only: for example, "47 households on Bramble Road are affected by this planning application." Individual resident data stays entirely within EARA's secure systems. The only third party that handles your data is Brevo (our email delivery service), which processes it solely for the purpose of sending you our newsletters, under a GDPR-compliant data processing agreement.

We're glad you asked — because this registration campaign is the foundation for much more. We're building several new services that will only be possible once we have a proper resident register with address data: street-level notices (planning applications and road closures sent only to affected residents), a community noticeboard with push notifications direct to your phone, a neighbourhood issues tracker so you can report problems and follow them to resolution with EARA chasing the council on your behalf, digital AGM invitations with one-tap RSVPs, and a voluntary community safety network for residents who'd like a friendly welfare check scheme. None of this is possible without knowing where residents live. Your registration today is what makes all of it possible.

That's a healthy scepticism and we respect it. This form is hosted on ellenbrookresidents.org — our official website, served over HTTPS (the padlock in your browser confirms this). The Ellenbrook Area Residents Association is a legitimate voluntary community organisation that has been active in the area for years. If you received a link to this page by email and are unsure whether it's genuine, you can verify by typing ellenbrookresidents.org directly into your browser rather than clicking the link. If you'd prefer to speak to someone before registering, please email info@ellenbrookresidents.org and a real human will get back to you.