Where possible we do not use cookies unless you have given us consent to do so. If you see our information bar about cookies at the top of this page - it means your visit is not being tracked in any way. However the site makes use of a session cookie called PHPSESSID. This cookie is necessary for site functionality and is set even if you do not give your consent. It is held temporarily in memory and is deleted when the web browser is closed. This cookie contains no personally identifiable information. No other cookies will be set without your consent.
If you do give consent for our use of cookies, we will set a cookie called cookie_allowed. This cookie will last for one year, and is used by the site to ensure that other cookies are never set unless you, the end user, have given permission. This cookie will only ever contain the number 1.
If you vote in any polls on the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council site, or visit the polls page, a cookie called LisburnPoll is set. This is just used to ensure that no one votes more than once. It lasts for one year and does not contain any personally identifiable information. If you take part in the Sprucefield development petition or visit the petition page, a cookie called LewisPoll is set. This is just used to ensure that no one petitions twice.
We use Google Analytics tracking cookies to collect anonymous traffic data about your use of this website. This information is stored by Google and subject to their privacy policy, which can be viewed here: http://www.google.com/privacy.html. Google Analytics collects information such as pages you visit on this site, the browser and operating system you use and time spent viewing pages. The purpose of this information is to help us improve the site for future visitors. If you have previously given consent to our use of cookies and would like to withdraw it, you only need to delete the existing cookies for the site in your browser. If you return to the site after that - we will not be using cookies or collecting any information about you. The following cookies are set by Google Analytics:
A persistent cookie - remains on a computer, unless it expires or the cookie cache is cleared. It tracks visitors. Metrics associated with the Google __utma cookie include: first visit (unique visit), last visit (returning visit). This also includes Days and Visits to purchase calculations which afford ecommerce websites with data intelligence around purchasing sales funnels.
These cookies work in tandem to calculate visit length. Google __utmb cookie demarks the exact arrival time, then Google __utmc registers the precise exit time of the user. Because __utmb counts entrance visits, it is a session cookie, and expires at the end of the session, e.g. when the user leaves the page. A timestamp of 30 minutes must pass before Google cookie __utmc expires. Given__utmc cannot tell if a browser or website session ends. Therefore, if no new page view is recorded in 30 minutes the cookie is expired. This is a standard 'grace period' in web analytics. Ominture and WebTrends among many others follow the same procedure.
Cookie __utmz monitors the HTTP Referrer and notes where a visitor arrived from, with the referrer siloed into type (Search engine (organic or cpc), direct, social and unaccounted). From the HTTP Referrer the __utmz Cookie also registers, what keyword generated the visit plus geolocation data. This cookie lasts six months. In tracking terms this Cookie is perhaps the most important as it will tell you about your traffic and help with conversion information such as what source / medium / keyword to attribute for a Goal Conversion.
Google __utmv Cookie lasts "forever". It is a persistant cookie. It is used for segmentation, data experimentation and the __utmv works hand in hand with the __utmz cookie to improve cookie targeting capabilities.