Cookies used on our website

Our website uses cookies to provide a better service and experience to you.

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer, smartphone, tablet or smart TV when you access a website. They are widely used to make websites work more efficiently by allowing the website to recognise your device and store information about past actions or preferences. An example could be internet banking, where your device may recognise and automatically fill in certain previously entered login details.

There are two kinds of cookies:

• session cookies are short-term and auto-delete after a few minutes or when you close your browser
• persistent cookies set by the website and stored for a longer period of time, usually used to store commonly entered information on forms (such as your name and contact details). They also store information about your browsing habits across different sites to allow advertisers and social network sites to target advertising at you.

We use Google Analytics to gather statistical information and analyse website activity such as visitor numbers, popular pages and customer journey through the website. This helps us create a more useful and easier to use site. The data collected is anonymous and does not store personal details.

You can block cookies from collecting information by changing your browser preferences (for example by amending your cookie settings on google settings).

Find out more about cookies.

Cookies currently being set

Cookies on www.birmingham.gov.uk are:

• __utma, __utmb, __utmz. Used by Google Analytics as part of our statistical information gathering
• 5ybiiJ37HUoeNLdw. Used to maintain the front end user's session, facilitating accessibility settings, form progress, etc
• TestCookie Used to test whether the browser can accept cookies
• Session cookie. This used to store the session id of a user. This is required to determine whether a user is logged in to the web site. Session data is also stored when a user is filling in a form however the data is stored on the server and not in the cookie.These cookies are set to expire as soon as a user quits their browser.

Cookies on account.birmingham.gov.uk are:

• __utma, __utmb, __utmz. Used by Google Analytics as part of our statistical information gathering
• account.birmingham.gov.uk Used as part of the operation of the online customer account
• CXM Used as part of the operation of the online customer account

Cookies on eplanning.birmingham.gov.uk are:

• __utma, __utmb, __utmz. Used by Google Analytics as part of our statistical information gathering
• MVMSession. Used to store your search progress on the planning portal

Page last updated: 1 May 2024