Test results for Planning permission - apply for it
Here is the table of test results for this task. The score on each row is out of a possible total of 20, and the importance column is a rating of 1-5 according to how important testers considered being able to complete this task was.
Filter within results: or click headings to sort.
Council | Navigation | A-Z | Site search | Score | Tests | Importance | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birmingham City Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 20 | 5 | |
Birmingham City Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 5 | 3 | |
Bournemouth Borough Council | Easy | Difficult | Very easy | Very easy | 14 | 3 | |
Bracknell Forest Council | Easy | Difficult | Easy | Difficult | 8 | 3 | |
Bracknell Forest Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 10 | 1 | |
Brent Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 20 | 3 | |
Buckinghamshire County Council | Easy | Difficult | Easy | Easy | 10 | 3 | |
Carlisle City Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 20 | 3 | |
Cheshire East Council | Very easy | Very easy | Easy | Very easy | 8 | 5 | |
Cheshire East Council | Difficult | Very easy | Very easy | Difficult | 2 | 5 | |
Cheshire East Council | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | 12 | 3 | |
Cheshire East Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 20 | 3 | |
Cheshire East Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 20 | 3 | |
City of Edinburgh Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 20 | 5 | |
Copeland Borough Council | Difficult | Very easy | Difficult | Difficult | 3 | 3 | |
Coventry City Council | Easy | Difficult | Easy | Difficult | 8 | 3 | |
Coventry City Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 15 | 3 | |
Devon County Council | Untested | ||||||
Great Yarmouth Borough Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 20 | 3 | |
Great Yarmouth Borough Council | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | 12 | 3 | |
Great Yarmouth Borough Council | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | 12 | 3 | |
Great Yarmouth Borough Council | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | 12 | 3 | |
Leicestershire County Council | Gave up | Easy | Easy | Easy | 6 | 0 | |
Liverpool City Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Easy | 18 | 3 | |
London Borough of Lewisham | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 20 | 0 | |
Manchester City Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 15 | 3 | |
Mansfield District Council | Gave up | Difficult | Gave up | Difficult | -4 | 3 | |
Newcastle City Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 20 | 1 | |
Plymouth City Council | Easy | Very easy | Very easy | Easy | 11 | 3 | |
Salford City Council | Difficult | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 16 | 3 | |
Salford City Council | Difficult | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 16 | 3 | |
Sefton Council | Difficult | Difficult | Difficult | Very easy | 8 | 3 | |
Tendring District Council | Very easy | Very easy | Easy | Very easy | 18 | 3 | |
Wandsworth Council | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | Very easy | 10 | 1 | |
Wychavon District Council | Difficult | Very easy | Easy | Easy | 7 | 3 |
Specific comments made about this task
Bournemouth Borough Council - 2014-03-21
Quite a lot of similar results on Google plus a load of ads, but the top result (how to apply...) was the right one. Content is pretty good, explaining very briefly what you need to know first then a link to the Planning Portal. A pleasant change from the normal verbose planning content pages. Internal search spot on. A to Z a big disappointment after search. Each letter split in to multiple pages, which is very annoying especially as the A to Z list appears to be very comprehensive. "Apply for planning permission" and "Planning application" missing. Home page not really top task focussed, but "Planning" links does lead to very good landing page. Overall good experience.
Bracknell Forest Council - 2014-03-18
The page is very long and wordy
Carlisle City Council - 2014-07-10
Planning application was on the home page!
Cheshire East Council - 2014-02-12
Apply for planning permission, explains to apply via portal, but then states before you submit check'do I need planning permission' which takes to another page with the portal. There is a lot of reading material before you even start on the portal.
Cheshire East Council - 2014-02-13
It was confusing. I was having to navigate around several pages and I was still not sure if I need planning permission or should I just go and apply with worrying about whether I need it or not
Cheshire East Council - 2014-02-13
to many options when the page opened
Cheshire East Council - 2014-02-13
There is a lot of information to read and it automatically put me off. I think it needs to be more friendly with regards to its readability. I probably would have found myself phoning to get more concise information.
Copeland Borough Council - 2014-02-12
Getting to the page was easy enough, however the link to the online planning portal was hidden at the bottom of the page containing the (long) list of downloadable forms to complete, and the downloadable forms were .pdf files meaning they would need to be to be printed out and filled in by hand and posted rather than being word documents which could be completed electronically and submitted by email.
Coventry City Council - 2016-12-23
The "Do I need planning permission?" information page which is reached from the home page, and the "Making a planning application" page reached from the A-Z and
search are not the same and do not direct to each other.
Devon County Council - 2014-02-04
Totally amazed at how difficult this task was and how frustrated I got trying to complete it.
Sefton Council - 2014-02-10
I share the pain on this one, it's something I've struggled with our our site too. The link under apply for planning permission on the top menu is broken. The A-Z listing takes you to how to view planning application but not how to make one. Similarly the search results from Google take you to viewing planning application not how to make one - unless you search for making a planning application. I suspect you've recently changed the page, as the actual page looked very good and clear, and it was the top result in the internal search. Thanks for the experience - I'll review our own site now with fresh eyes.
Wychavon District Council - 2017-07-20
Too many clicks before you're eventually taken to the national planning portal. Advice and guidance sections beforehand poorly structured. SEO for Google search not good as it brings up applications searching before making applications.