Interactive Surveys
Multi-type consultation questionnaires designed specifically for planning consultations. Collect structured, meaningful feedback from residents, stakeholders and community groups with an intuitive online survey tool that requires no coding or technical expertise. Whether you are running a consultation on a small planning application or a borough-wide local plan, ConsultOnline makes it simple to create, distribute and analyse survey responses at scale.
Drag-and-Drop Builder
Visually design public consultation surveys by dragging questions into place. Reorder, group into sections and configure validation rules without touching a single line of code. The intuitive interface means your consultation team can build and edit questionnaires independently, reducing reliance on external agencies and saving weeks of turnaround time.
11 Question Types
From simple short text inputs and long-form comment boxes to star ratings, linear scales, checkbox groups, radio buttons, dropdowns and file uploads, every question type is purpose-built for community. Conditional branching lets you show or hide questions based on previous answers, keeping your survey relevant and focused for each respondent.
Real-time Collection
Responses stream in live as residents complete your consultation survey. Watch participation numbers grow in real time, monitor response patterns as they emerge and identify trending concerns early. Live data means you can adjust your engagement strategy mid-consultation to improve reach and response rates across your community.
Why ConsultOnline
Why choose ConsultOnline for your consultation surveys?
Traditional public consultation methods — paper questionnaires posted to residents, printed forms left at libraries and community centres, or generic off-the-shelf survey tools — come with significant drawbacks. Paper surveys are expensive to print, distribute and manually process. Response rates are typically low, data entry introduces errors and the whole exercise can take months from start to reporting. Generic online survey tools not designed for the specific requirements of planning consultations, leaving your team to work around limitations in accessibility, data handling and reporting.
ConsultOnline was built by planning communications experts for developers, planning consultancies and local authorities. Our survey builder meets WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards out of the box, ensuring residents with visual impairments, motor difficulties, or cognitive needs can participate equally. Every survey is fully mobile-responsive, so residents can respond on their phone, tablet, or desktop without friction. Data is stored securely in European data centres with full GDPR compliance, including automated data retention policies and the ability to handle subject access requests efficiently.
The cost savings are substantial. By moving your consultation surveys online, you eliminate printing and postage costs, remove the need for manual data entry and dramatically reduce the time between closing a consultation and producing your consultation report. Many of our clients see response rates increase by three to five times compared with paper-only consultations, giving planning officers a far richer evidence base to work with when making recommendations.
How It Works
Three steps to better feedback
Create Your Survey
Use the drag-and-drop builder to assemble your consultation questionnaire in minutes. Choose from 11 question types, configure conditional logic to create dynamic question paths, organise questions into logical sections and set validation rules to ensure you collect clean, structured data. You can preview exactly how your survey will appear to residents before publishing, and duplicate existing surveys to save time on recurring consultations.
Share the Link
Publish your survey directly on your branded consultation microsite, where it sits alongside interactive maps, project documents and timelines. Share a direct link via email newsletters, social media channels, QR codes on printed materials, or embed the survey in your own council website. Every survey has a unique, shareable URL that works seamlessly across all devices, making it easy for residents to participate however they prefer.
Analyse Responses
View results on a live dashboard with automatically generated charts, summaries and sentiment analysis. Filter responses by date, question, or respondent demographics. Export raw data to CSV for further analysis in Excel or your preferred tools, or generate committee-ready PDF reports that meet the requirements of your planning committee or board. The platform handles the heavy lifting of data processing so your team can focus on interpretation and decision-making.
See how ConsultOnline can work for your team
Book a short demo to see the survey builder in action, or explore our pricing to find the right plan for your organisation.
Capabilities
Every question type you need
Our consultation survey builder includes a comprehensive range of question types and configuration options, giving you full control over how you collect community feedback.
Question Types
Question types explained
Each question type in the ConsultOnline survey builder has been designed for the kinds of feedback that planning consultations need to collect. Here is what each one does and when to use it.
Short Text
Ideal for collecting brief, specific answers such as postcodes, street names, or short opinions. Set character limits and validation patterns to ensure responses are clean and consistent. Commonly used for demographic questions and site reference fields.
Long Text
A multi-line text area for detailed written comments and open-ended feedback. Perfect for capturing resident views on planning proposals, objections, or suggestions. Supports optional word count limits to guide respondents towards concise, focused answers.
Rating Scale
Star-based or numeric rating questions that make it easy for residents to express satisfaction levels or preferences. Useful for gauging community sentiment on specific aspects of a proposal, such as design quality, traffic impact, or environmental concerns.
Linear Scale
A numbered scale from 1 to 10 with customisable labels at each end. Excellent for measuring strength of opinion, such as "How strongly do you support or oppose this proposal?" Produces clean quantitative data that is straightforward to analyse and present to committees.
Checkbox (Select Many)
Allow respondents to select multiple options from a list. Use this for questions like "Which community facilities are most important to you?" or "Select all transport modes you use regularly." Supports minimum and maximum selection limits.
Radio Button (Select One)
Single-choice questions presented as radio buttons for clear, unambiguous responses. Ideal for yes/no questions, preference ranking, or asking residents to choose between discrete options such as proposed design variants or site layout alternatives.
Dropdown Select
A compact dropdown menu for single-choice answers, particularly useful when you have a long list of options. Common uses include selecting a ward, parish, or neighbourhood area, or choosing from a list of predefined categories for feedback classification.
File Upload
Allow respondents to attach supporting documents, photographs, or plans alongside their survey responses. Configurable file type restrictions and size limits ensure you only receive relevant attachments. Useful for evidence-based consultations where residents want to submit supporting material.
Conditional Logic
Show or hide questions based on how a respondent answers previous questions. This keeps surveys concise and relevant — residents who support a proposal might see different follow-up questions than those who object. Branching logic reduces survey abandonment and improves the quality of responses collected.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Ready to collect better feedback?
Build your first consultation website in minutes and start gathering structured, actionable responses. Join developers, planning consultancies and local authorities across the UK who trust ConsultOnline for their resident engagement.
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