You may have noticed that OnTheWight’s weekly article detailing all of the Isle of Wight’s planning applications has returned after a break of two months.
We know OnTheWight readers had found the weekly articles had been valuable (you’d been in contact to let us know), as it gave you a view on proposed developments on the Island.
Hearing this was rewarding as we’d spent a fair amount of time building the system at our end to take the council’s data and present it to you as a table and map, so you could quickly get an understanding of where the applications were (easier than looking at a list).
Changes with the council data
Sadly a couple of months back there was a change in the system that the IWC planning department uses to manage their planning application, leading to the data being provided to us being in a different format, essentially breaking the system we’d created.
This meant that Islanders were left without the details we’d been providing.
Putting in extra time
This felt wrong, so we put aside extra time at this end to build a new system that took a different approach. While we were at it, we took the opportunity to build in some improvements.
The data of each application (see this week’s example) is still there in the table, giving you the ability to sort each of the columns of data – and search the applications – useful in the weeks when there are lots.
Improvements
As mentioned, readers really seemed to like the map – giving a chance to see where the planning changes were being proposed.
We thought there was room for improvement, to make it even more helpful.
Now when you move around the map, the summary of what the planning application is will pop up if you hover over the markers on the map – a much faster way of understanding if you might be interested in the application.
Now linked directly to IWC record
When you click, a box pops up showing you more detail. Now included is a link as well as the reference number, so you can go directly to the individual planning application on the IWC planning portal, to read in detail and, if relevant, give feedback.
The map code is also much smaller, so it should load faster.
More next week
From next week, there’ll be a further enhancement – a link to Google maps will take you to the property.
It’s taken a chunk of time to create this, so we hope it’s of use to Islanders.
