Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions of Use

Updated: 5th January 2026
Email: compliance@objectnow.co.uk

1. Status, Purpose, and Legal Effect

1.1 These Terms and Conditions govern access to and use of the website, objection letter generator, and all associated digital services operated by ObjectNow.
1.2 These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between ObjectNow and each user who accesses or uses the service.
1.3 The Terms are intended to be enforceable under the law of Scotland and interpreted in a manner consistent with Scots contract law, applicable consumer protection legislation, and principles of procedural fairness.
1.4 Nothing in these Terms seeks to exclude or limit any statutory rights available to consumers under applicable law.

2. Acceptance and Formation of Contract

2.1 A binding contract is formed when a user confirms acceptance of these Terms prior to using the service or submitting an objection.
2.2 Acceptance must be explicit, informed, and capable of being evidenced, including by means of an electronic acceptance mechanism.
2.3 Where a user does not accept these Terms, they must not access or use the service.
2.4 ObjectNow reserves the right to refuse or discontinue access to the service where acceptance has not been properly given or where use would be unlawful.

3. Definitions and Interpretation

3.1 “ObjectNow” refers to the operator of the platform and the provider of the services described in these Terms.
3.2 “User” refers to a natural person acting in an individual capacity who accesses or uses the service.
3.3 “Service” refers to the objection letter generation, assembly, submission, and associated record keeping functions provided by ObjectNow.
3.4 “Objection” refers to a representation or submission made to a planning authority or other public decision making body.
3.5 References to legislation include any amendment, re enactment, or replacement in force at the relevant time.
3.6 Headings are included for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

4. Nature, Status, and Purpose of ObjectNow

4.1 ObjectNow is not operated as a commercial business and is not constituted as a charity, trust, or incorporated entity.
4.2 ObjectNow is a civic participation platform created and maintained by individuals engaged in community and environmental campaigning.
4.3 The platform has been designed by campaigners for campaigners, with the purpose of enabling individuals to participate effectively in planning, consultation, and decision making processes.
4.4 Those involved in the creation, maintenance, and operation of ObjectNow contribute their time on a voluntary basis and without remuneration.
4.5 The service is provided in good faith as a facilitative tool to support public engagement and democratic participation.
4.6 Nothing in the operation of ObjectNow constitutes the provision of regulated services, professional representation, or organised campaigning on behalf of users.
4.7 Users act independently and retain full responsibility for their own views, submissions, and participation in any campaign or objection process.

5. Scope and Nature of the Service

5.1 ObjectNow provides a digital platform intended to assist users in drafting and submitting planning objections and similar representations.
5.2 The service is administrative and facilitative in nature.
5.3 ObjectNow does not provide legal advice, legal representation, planning consultancy, or professional opinion.
5.4 Content generated through the service must not be relied upon as a substitute for independent professional advice where such advice is required.
5.5 Use of the service does not create any fiduciary, agency, advisory, or representative relationship between ObjectNow and the user.

6. Eligibility and Capacity

6.1 The service is intended for use by individuals aged sixteen years or over.
6.2 Individuals under the age of sixteen must obtain the consent of a parent or legal guardian prior to submitting an objection.
6.3 Where ObjectNow is notified that an objection has been submitted without the required consent, the associated data will be removed in accordance with applicable law.
6.4 Users confirm that they have the legal capacity to enter into this agreement.

7. User Conduct and General Obligations

7.1 Users must use the service lawfully, responsibly, and in good faith.
7.2 Users must ensure that all information they provide is accurate, complete, and truthful to the best of their knowledge at the time of submission.
7.3 Users must not use the service to submit content that is unlawful, defamatory, misleading, abusive, threatening, or otherwise improper.
7.4 Users acknowledge that they are solely responsible for the views, statements, and representations contained within any objection submitted using the platform.
7.5 ObjectNow reserves the right to restrict or suspend access to the service where use would be unlawful or would expose the platform or other users to material risk.

8. Drafted Content and User Control

8.1 The service provides structured draft content intended to assist users in articulating objections relevant to the specific campaign or planning proposal concerned.
8.2 Draft content is provided as a starting point only and does not constitute advice or instruction.
8.3 Users may amend, add to, or remove any part of the generated content prior to submission.
8.4 ObjectNow does not review, approve, moderate, or validate user made amendments to draft content.
8.5 Responsibility for the final form and substance of any submitted objection rests entirely with the user.
8.6 ObjectNow accepts no liability for any reduction in clarity, strength, coherence, or legal or evidential weight arising from user modifications.

9. Use of Artificial Intelligence

9.1 ObjectNow uses artificial intelligence systems solely as an assistance tool to support drafting, restructuring, and assembly of objection content.
9.2 Artificial intelligence systems do not act autonomously, do not submit objections, and do not determine final content.
9.3 AI generated or AI assisted content is always subject to human review and approval by the user prior to submission.
9.4 The use of artificial intelligence does not alter the legal character of an objection as a human authored submission.

10. Energy Efficiency and Content Reuse

10.1 ObjectNow seeks to limit energy consumption and unnecessary computational demand associated with AI processing to the greatest extent reasonably practicable.
10.2 This is achieved through the secure storage of previously generated, non personal objection sections which may be reused where appropriate.
10.3 Reused sections may be reassembled using internal coding systems to form a complete objection letter.
10.4 Objection letters assembled using reused content are intended to carry the same procedural and substantive standing as letters generated through live AI processing.
10.5 Users acknowledge that content reuse is adopted in good faith to reduce environmental impact and operational dependency without diminishing the function or purpose of submissions.

11. Human Authorship and Individual Submissions

11.1 Every objection submitted through the platform is submitted by a natural person acting in their own capacity.
11.2 A human user exercises final judgement and control over whether an objection is submitted and in what form.
11.3 Artificial intelligence systems are not the author of objections for legal or procedural purposes.
11.4 Each objection submitted constitutes an individual representation for the purposes of planning law, consultation processes, and administrative decision making.
11.5 Where an authority aggregates, discounts, or disregards objections on the basis that they were generated or assisted by automated tools, ObjectNow reserves the right to take reasonable steps to assert the individual human status of such submissions.
11.6 Any such steps are taken to protect procedural integrity and do not constitute legal representation of users.

12. Human Verified Foundation Framework

12.1 All objection systems made available on the platform are based upon a foundational objection framework that has been prepared, reviewed, and verified by a human prior to public activation.
12.2 Foundation frameworks are subject to human scrutiny to ensure factual accuracy, relevance to applicable planning policy or law, and procedural appropriateness.
12.3 Artificial intelligence systems are not used to originate foundational objection frameworks.
12.4 AI tools may assist in rephrasing, restructuring, or assembling content derived from verified foundation material but do not replace human judgement at the foundational stage.
12.5 This process exists to ensure that objection systems are not made publicly available without reasonable prior scrutiny.
12.6 Users acknowledge that the existence of a verified foundation does not remove their responsibility to review and approve the final objection prior to submission.

13. Submission and Transmission

13.1 ObjectNow transmits objections only to the planning authority or public body identified by the relevant campaign.
13.2 ObjectNow does not guarantee receipt, consideration, or outcome of any objection.
13.3 Upon transmission, objections fall under the control and procedures of the receiving authority.
13.4 ObjectNow has no authority over how objections are handled, assessed, or recorded by third parties.

14. Publication by Authorities

14.1 Planning authorities may publish objections on publicly accessible portals.
14.2 ObjectNow includes a formal request within each objection asking that personal details be redacted from public display.
14.3 The decision whether to redact rests solely with the authority concerned.
14.4 Users must contact the relevant authority directly regarding publication, removal, or redaction of objection content.

15. Data Protection and Privacy

15.1 ObjectNow processes personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
15.2 Only personal data strictly necessary for the operation of the service is collected and processed.
15.3 Personal data includes name, address, postcode, email address, and any personal comments voluntarily provided by the user.
15.4 All personal data is stored in encrypted form using appropriate technical measures.
15.5 ObjectNow does not access personal data in human readable form except where strictly required to meet legal obligations.
15.6 Personal data is not sold, traded, or shared with third parties other than for the sole purpose of submitting objections to the relevant authority.
15.7 Users retain all statutory rights in respect of their personal data.

16. Data Retention

16.1 Objection letters are deleted from ObjectNow systems immediately following successful submission.
16.2 Encrypted personal records are retained only to the extent necessary for record keeping, supporter code functionality, system integrity, and legal accountability.
16.3 Users may request deletion of retained personal data, subject to statutory retention requirements.

17. Zero Tolerance to Abuse

17.1 ObjectNow operates a zero tolerance approach to abuse of any kind directed toward individuals, communities, organisations, or the platform itself.
17.2 Abuse includes, but is not limited to, harassment, intimidation, threats, hate speech, discriminatory language, or sustained hostile conduct.
17.3 Users must not use the service to submit abusive content or to target individuals or groups in a manner inconsistent with lawful civic participation.
17.4 ObjectNow reserves the right to refuse, suspend, or terminate access to the service where abuse is identified or reasonably suspected.
17.5 Decisions taken under this section are intended to protect users, volunteers, and the integrity of the platform and do not affect a user’s right to lawful expression elsewhere.
17.6 Nothing in this section prevents users from expressing strong, robust, or critical views where such expression is lawful and relevant to planning or consultation matters.

18. Cybersecurity and System Protection

18.1 ObjectNow implements reasonable and proportionate technical and organisational measures to protect its systems, infrastructure, and data from unauthorised access, loss, or interference.
18.2 Users acknowledge that no internet based service can be guaranteed to be entirely secure.
18.3 ObjectNow does not warrant that the service will be immune from hacking, malware, denial of service attacks, or other malicious activity.
18.4 In the event of a personal data breach that presents a risk to individuals, ObjectNow will comply with statutory notification obligations.
18.5 Nothing in these Terms excludes liability which cannot lawfully be excluded under Scots law.

19. Prohibited Conduct and System Interference

19.1 Users must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the website, servers, databases, source code, or supporting infrastructure.
19.2 Users must not attempt to probe, scan, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise analyse the platform except where expressly permitted by law.
19.3 Users must not engage in denial of service attacks, traffic flooding, automated abuse, or exploitation of vulnerabilities.
19.4 Users must not introduce malware or harmful material or interfere with the normal operation of the service.
19.5 Breach of this section may result in immediate suspension or termination of access and may be reported to relevant authorities where appropriate.
19.6 ObjectNow reserves the right to seek injunctive relief and damages where unlawful interference occurs.

20. Service Availability

20.1 ObjectNow seeks to maintain reasonable availability of the service but does not guarantee uninterrupted access.
20.2 Temporary interruptions may occur due to maintenance, updates, or technical failure.
20.3 ObjectNow shall not be liable for loss arising from service interruption beyond what is permitted by law.

21. Limitation of Liability

21.1 ObjectNow shall not be liable for indirect, consequential, or purely economic loss arising from use of the service.
21.2 ObjectNow is not responsible for decisions taken by planning authorities or other third parties.
21.3 Liability is not excluded where doing so would be unlawful.
21.4 Statutory consumer rights remain unaffected.

22. Indemnity

22.1 Users agree to indemnify ObjectNow against losses arising from unlawful use of the service, submission of abusive or improper content, or breach of these Terms.
22.2 This indemnity does not apply where loss arises from ObjectNow’s own unlawful conduct.

23. Intellectual Property

23.1 All software, system architecture, and platform content remain the intellectual property of ObjectNow.
23.2 Users are granted a limited, non exclusive licence to use generated content solely for the purpose of submitting objections.
23.3 Commercial reuse, redistribution, or exploitation is prohibited.

24. Amendments to Terms

24.1 ObjectNow may amend these Terms where required for legal, operational, or security reasons.
24.2 Amendments do not apply retrospectively to objections already submitted.
24.3 Continued use of the service after amendment constitutes acceptance of updated Terms.

25. Severability

25.1 If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

26. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

26.1 These Terms and Conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the law of Scotland.
26.2 The Scottish courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from or connected with these Terms or use of the service.