Planning Portal report a 15.6% increase in planning applications

As we celebrate a year since our website relaunch, we are happy to report a 15.6% increase in planning applications from March 2016 to 2017. That’s 55,535 successfully processed applications in one calendar month!

Easter falling later will have had an impact, though our long-term stats show similarly optimistic growth. The workday average for planning applications in March was 2,269, up 4.6% on the previous year and between 2015 and 2016 we saw an eight percent increase in online applications. Anyone who has worked on a website relaunch will tell you that it’s a huge undertaking. Though our team can reconcile the somewhat white knuckle-inducing experience with the knowledge that the site is now faster, more streamlined, and fully mobile-responsive. In fact, visitors accessing the site via tablet and mobile now account for 10 and 22 percent, respectively, of all traffic to the website.

So, what next? Well, we continue to see very encouraging figures from the online building control application service that we launched in October last year; over 2.5k valid applications submitted so far. We hold directories for both LABC departments and Approved Inspectors:

Search for an LABC. Search for an Approved Inspector.

We have ambitious plans to develop more content to help users navigate the world of planning and building and will be posting updates in our weekly newsletter.

We’ve also launched a digital mapping tool, ReQuestaPlan, to help our users submit successful planning and building control applications first time. We are committed to keeping our application services free for all users. By choosing ReQuestaPlan we can ensure this continues to be the case.

We’re always looking for ways to improve and enhance our products and services. If you have any recommendations or ideas for our services or the free guidance and resources we offer, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch by emailing communications@planningportal.co.uk.