Idox is developing a new national e-consultation cloud that will allow all planning stakeholders to complete their internal and external consultations online. Idox’s Consultee Cloud is intended to fill the gap left by the closure of the government’s e-consultation hub in December 2010.
The Consultee Cloud will notify consultees of relevant planning applications, allow the viewing of application details and associated documents, and the creation of a response to the planning application, all returned electronically to the local planning authority.
The Consultee Cloud was launched in June 2011 and is scheduled to be fully live by September 2011. English Heritage, Northumberland County Council, North Kesteven District Council and Cheshire West & Chester Council are among the first to sign up for the new service.
The Consultee Cloud will be able to integrate with all councils’ back-office systems later this year, at which point Idox will extend the system further to integrate direct into consultees’ back-office systems.