Northern Planners

Before

Northern Planners help homeowners, landowners and developers across North Yorkshire get planning permission. Their website had stood still: almost every change needed a developer, so the news page had gone quiet for years. The enquiry form also relied on an outside service. If that service failed, the lead was lost and nobody knew.

After

The team runs the website now. Three things changed for them.

1. 01

   They edit it themselves

   News, projects, FAQs and team profiles are plain forms. Open a page, change a line, see it in the preview, publish. No developer involved.

   Clip: The Northern Planners editor: opening the Harrogate page, changing the end of its intro, watching the preview update, and publishing.

   northernplanners.co.uk/admin
2. 02

   No enquiry goes missing

   A short form in three steps asks what the project is, where it is, and how to get back to you. Every enquiry lands in their inbox, with a backup copy kept on the site.

   Clip: The enquiry form being filled in: choosing Barn conversion, picking Harrogate, writing a short message, then adding a name and email.

   northernplanners.co.uk/contact
3. 03

   Found in their own towns

   Each service, project and town has its own page, including Harrogate and Knaresborough, with answers to the questions people search for.

   Clip: The Harrogate page: how the firm helps locally, and a list of common planning questions about Harrogate.

   northernplanners.co.uk/harrogate

northernplanners.co.uk/admin

How we got there

• We rebuilt it alongside the old site, not on top of it. The live site kept running the whole time, so the firm never went without a website.
• We chose an editor built for people who aren’t developers. News, projects and FAQs are plain forms, and nothing goes live without a preview first.
• Nothing was lost in the move. Old links and bookmarks still land in the right place.