Test results for Planning application - comment on one

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.

CouncilNavigationA-ZGoogleSite searchScoreTestsImportance
Aberdeen City CouncilVery easyEasyEasy161
Birmingham City CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy183
Birmingham City CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy33
Bracknell Forest CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy183
Cambridge City CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy35
Camden CouncilGave upEasyVery easy81
Cheshire East CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy15
Cheshire East CouncilDifficultVery easyDifficult123
Cheshire East CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy153
Cheshire East CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy103
Cheshire East CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy203
City of Edinburgh CouncilDifficultDifficultDifficult45
City of Edinburgh CouncilEasyVery easyEasy91
Cornwall CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy203
Coventry City CouncilGave upEasyGave up-63
Coventry City CouncilGave upEasyEasy65
Coventry City CouncilEasyEasyEasy143
Devon County CouncilDifficultDifficultDifficult45
Doncaster CouncilDifficultEasyEasy83
Enfield CouncilDifficultEasyEasy103
Gravesham Borough CouncilGave upDifficultEasy-21
Haringey Council
Haringey CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy100
Haringey CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy200
Harrow CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy103
Harrow CouncilVery easyVery easyEasy83
Lambeth CouncilEasyVery easyVery easy183
Lambeth CouncilVery easyGave upVery easy103
Lichfield District CouncilEasyVery easyVery easy185
Liverpool City CouncilDifficultVery easyVery easy163
Liverpool City CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy183
Manchester City CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy153
Manchester City CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy153
Northamptonshire County CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy50
Royal Borough of Kensington and ChelseaVery easyVery easyVery easy53
Sefton CouncilEasyVery easyEasy123
Sheffield City CouncilGave upVery easyGave up-91
Staffordshire County CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy203
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Wandsworth CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy203
West Lindsey District CouncilVery easyVery easyEasy133
Wychavon District CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy53

Specific comments made about this task

Birmingham City Council - 2016-07-18
There was a superfluous intermediate page between the link on the main page Comment on a Current Application, and the page on which I could launch the comment form

Bracknell Forest Council - 2014-03-17
Page is very wordy.

Camden Council - 2014-02-27
Easy enough (though not on A-Z), though a little unclear that you can't comment on some applications once the consultation period is over.

Cheshire East Council - 2014-02-13
The web page I landed on was confusing. Too much detail. There were no clear instructions that jumped out at me. As a user I would want to just click a few buttons to complete my task. There is too much jargon and the customer journey is not easy

Cheshire East Council - 2014-02-13
This is a lot easier to navigate round and the 'e- form' to actually comment on an application is very user friendly

Cheshire East Council - 2014-10-28
the page was written in plain english and it was very easy to understand

City of Edinburgh Council - 2014-02-01
Required me to be registered and logged in in order to make a comment.

Coventry City Council - 2014-02-26
The links are not obvious but they are there

Coventry City Council - 2014-03-20
much better

Devon County Council - 2014-01-31
Finding actual planning applications was quite difficult, and then when I found one, the only way to comment was to send an email, which seems a bit last century.

Doncaster Council - 2014-06-18
the home page of the website is terrible. no icons/leads to help me navigate easily, just a search bar. Had to click on 'main sections' at the top to find my way round in quite a lot of clicks. not a very good journey for the customer

Enfield Council - 2014-02-27
Easy enough to find the page, but not that clear how to comment (as opposed to just finding the application)

Gravesham Borough Council - 2014-12-08
The page is there but it is called Planning Public Access, so it's not that clear that this is how you can comment. The navigation only takes you to a list of pages A to Z.

Haringey Council - 2013-12-20
Easy enough to get to the list of current applications, but this is presented as a list of search results separated into pages, with no hints as to how many pages there are or how they are sorted. Once at the list of planning applications I tried to use the search provided there, but it's almost unusable without reference number (e.g. searching by road name gives results including past applications going back to 1989, and I couldn't work out how to limit the results to current applications.) Once at the details for a particular planning application, it appears to be quite easy to submit a comment.

Lambeth Council - 2014-06-25
To get to the section to comment on a planning application from Google you may need to put everything in the search otherwise you will get lost as I did.

Lichfield District Council - 2013-12-05
A-Z entry went to a redundant gateway page.

Manchester City Council - 2014-02-27
Very easy and readable

Northamptonshire County Council - 2014-02-19
Simple signposting for a popular service.

Sheffield City Council - 2014-06-18
Search found the topic but then provided no obvious way to complain

Staffordshire County Council - 2014-02-22
Easy to find, excellent information and online comment form.

Wandsworth Council - 2014-05-06
No 'view planning application' in a to z, but I agree with that.

West Lindsey District Council - 2014-03-27
Comment on a planning application is available on 'Top Tasks' It is contained under 'C' for Comment on planning application in A to Z

Wychavon District Council - 2017-07-21
Those graphics on the planning main page are *so* 1999... The readability of the relevant pages was excessively jargon-heavy and excessively wordy; I suspect more people are put off making legitimate comments than are discouraged from making trivial ones by this.