We have been working hard to deliver a new product just for developers and planning consultants. Now, all major planning applications require a public consultation website to share information about the project with stakeholders including local people and the LPA team.
Planning consultants and developers are generally very busy… too busy to engage in detailed design meetings and proposals. Especially where what they really want is the job done without having to think about it.
Our principal actually ran a planning consultancy for a long time and so understands your business, having sat where you are sitting right now.
It was spotting this gap in the market from that frustrating experience of dealing with designers when, in reality, all we needed was a good looking, functional website for a planning application, and didn’t have time for endless design meetings that gave him the idea for this service.
So… Your Name Here has developed an ultra rapid service and we can now offer an off the shelf solution that they can order with one click, staged online payments and no hassle from design consultants.
Registration of a custom domain name for 2 years, or redirection to yours.
We include on years hosting on our ultra fast SSD hosting on a UK based server with FastHosts.
UK based means your site is GDPR compliant.
GDPR module for data handling and subject access requests.
A dedicated page to host all your drawings, reports and other planning files.
We upload all your planning files so that the public can access these at any time and are able to download even very large files from our servers.
A public consultation web form to gather consultee responses. These are then emailed directly to the planning consultant as text and a PDF without sharing an email address.
A community benefits web form to engage with the local community to find out what benefits they might like from the developers. Again, these are then emailed directly to the planning consultant as text and a PDF without sharing an email address.
As standard, up to 15 pages as follows: A description of the development, biodiversity net gain, landscape and visual impact, land quality, frequently asked questions, public consultation response page with a form for public engagement, embed any videos from public consultations, flood risk, ecology reporting and assessment, community benefits page with a questionnaire, a survey page for collection of public responses and licenced high quality photographs from our own collection.
A site that you have access to and can edit at any time, not a site that only the web developer has access to, so you may have unlimited free edits when you complete these yourself.
Collaborative Google Document where you can place all your site specific custom text, page by page, so you have exactly the copy you want on your site with version control as standard.
A dedicated Google Drive folder to upload your photographs and plans.
Special security measures. We do not use standard file paths or logins to prevent hacking of your site. We use ultra high security servers, passwords and have a 24 hour recovery turnaround in the unlikely event that your site is accessed by unauthorised people.
We also include within our fixed fee 5 hours of consultation time and revisions for the site, which we have always found to be more than enough time for client engagement. Don’t forget, the upload and Google Docs saves hours and hours of emails, file swapping and telephone calls.
Free site backup held off line on secure servers for disaster recovery and full recovery of the site is included in the fee.
An example of just one of the sites we have completed can be found below.
Prices:
Fixed fee, specialist planning website as above including .co.uk domain name, HTTPS certificate, up to 15 pages, 1 years hosting, images, upload of your text and images, upload of planning documents and 5 extra hours of consultation and revisions for just £1995.00 plus VAT.
Uplift for 5 day turnaround from receipt of files is £500.00 plus VAT including working weekends.
Three staged payments. 40% on instruction, 40% on handover, final 20% when live to the clients satisfaction.
Each year’s additional hosting and security updates is just £95.00 plus VAT.
Keep your business email out of the public domain. A dedicated email address, for example consultation@yourdevelopment.co.uk for 1 year and 2GB of storage for the application as webmail £95.00 plus VAT. Each additional year hosted email £45.00 plus VAT.
Provision of managed, chaired Google Video conferencing with up to 200 attendees, for remote public consultations parish council meetings with dedicated page to host the recorded video. Up to 2 hours £175.00 plus VAT per meeting.
Pay online by credit or debit cards or by BACS on invoicing.
Discounts for bulk orders or regular clients of 10% off for 2 to 9 sites, 15% off for 10 sites and very special pricing for service level agreements.
We can also arrange public consultation materials including roller stands, large format TVs and projectors to dynamically display content, leaflets, laminated plans, exhibition stands.
Frequently asked questions:
Q: I’ve been quoted much more by other web design firms, why are you so much less?
A: We have created a bespoke template and set of plugins for the websites that has been tested over the past 2 years before the service was launched and, having worked with developers and planning consultants to develop this product, we have streamlined the deployment of the sites to reduce the time it takes to build them.
The largest time saving is using Google Docs and drive to enable you to upload your copy and photos, (if you want to supply any), for each page. This eliminates 20 hours or more in our experience from client contact time. We have then been able to reduce the price of the sites to reflect this.
This also means that you typically save up to 20 hours of fee earning time, saving you thousands. You have better things to do than speak to web developers, that’s OK, we are not offended!
Q: I am in a hurry and need the site ASAP! How long does it take from start to finish to get a site up an running?
A: The clock starts running after you have uploaded your text and any photos you want us to use. On payment of the deposit, our systems automatically order the domain name and provision the hosting on UK based servers. It will also automatically and immediately email you a dedicated Google Document for you to populate for each page and a link to a dedicated Google Drive.
In extreme cases, we have turned around a site from instruction to live in 24 hours if we have all we need. Our standard turnaround is 2 weeks from start to finish.
The realistic minimum turnaround is 5 working days. If you would like to take this expedited option, then we charge an additional £500.00 plus VAT for this service. If you decide to take us up on this, please be aware this is from the time we have all the text and photos. We can wait another day or so for you to upload your documents you would like us to embed them into your site as we have a lot to do in that first day from instruction.
We always do our best to deliver faster than the deadlines given above, but that really depends on how quickly you get the information we need to us.
Q: We need a lot of sites over the course of a year, do you offer any discounts?
A: Yes! We offer up to 15% off for 10 or more websites ordered within a 1 year period. We offer even more discounts for high volume users, for which we speak with you to work out a fair service level agreement that might also include enhanced turnaround times and a dedicated team member.
Q: Where are you based, do you work from the UK?
A: We are based in Cornwall in Great Britain and we have a dedicated office for our workers in Truro. English is our first language. Our workers are qualified to a minimum of degree level and have at least 5 years industry experience and most hold Masters degrees.
Q: I am not sure I want to order a website online, I would like to speak to someone first, can I do that and still benefit from these amazing prices?
A: Of course! We are very happy to arrange a free initial video call for up to half an hour, which should be plenty of time for you to decide if we are right for each others business.
Q: The project is secret at the moment, are you able to build a site ahead of time and can you keep our work confidential?
A: Yes, we can. We are happy to sign non-disclosure agreements to give you the comfort of confidentiality. We much prefer to work on projects in advance. We can then set the site to go live on the day the application is lodged.
Q: Can I visit your office to talk in person?
A: You would be most welcome! We have a beautiful water side office in Truro, nice coffee and the bonus of a visit to Cornwall, which is stunning at any time of year.