Making local planning
understandable
The Cotswold Local Plan proposes 14,660 new homes across the district. For residents, understanding what that means for their community — which sites are allocated, what the timeline is, how to respond — is almost impossible. Council documents run to hundreds of pages of planning jargon. Consultation deadlines pass before most people know they exist.
We built Cotswold Planning Hub as a community resource that translates the entire Local Plan process into something residents can actually use. Area-specific pages for every affected community, plain-English guides to the consultation process, a newsletter system powered by Cloudflare D1, and an admin panel for content management — all edge-deployed on Cloudflare Pages for instant global delivery.
The site has become a genuine resource for residents, parish councils, and community groups engaging with the planning process across the district.
14,660 homes and nobody
knows what's happening
The Cotswold Local Plan is one of the most significant planning documents the district has seen. It proposes thousands of homes across dozens of communities, but the consultation documents are hundreds of pages of planning policy language. Most residents don't know the plan exists, let alone how to engage with it meaningfully.
The challenge was building a resource that made complex planning information genuinely accessible — not just available, but understandable. Every community needed its own context: what's proposed for their area, what it means, and how to respond. And the platform needed to be fast, reliable, and simple to maintain as the consultation process evolves through Regulation 18 and 19 stages.
Every feature earned its place
Area-specific community pages
Over 30 dedicated pages for individual communities across the district. Each page presents exactly what's proposed for that area — site allocations, housing numbers, and what it means locally. Residents find their community and get the information that matters to them.
Content architecture
Complex planning policy translated into a structured information hierarchy. Local Plan progress, guides, resources, news, and area-specific content organised so residents can navigate from high-level overview to specific detail without getting lost.
Newsletter system
Subscription API built on Cloudflare D1 serverless database. Residents sign up to receive updates as the consultation progresses. Server-side API routes handle subscription management with zero external dependencies.
Edge-deployed architecture
Astro on Cloudflare Pages with server-side rendering for dynamic routes and static generation for content pages. D1 database bindings, API routes for admin and subscription endpoints, global edge delivery for instant page loads.
Admin panel
Protected admin interface with authentication for content management and subscriber data export. Secure login, session handling, and data export endpoints — all serverless, no traditional backend infrastructure required.
Consultation guides
Step-by-step guidance on how to respond to planning consultations, what carries weight, key dates, and the difference between Regulation 18 and 19 stages. Turning complex process into clear, actionable information.
Technology in service of
community
Cotswold Planning Hub is a working example of what modern web architecture can do when applied to a real community problem. Astro's hybrid rendering — static where content is stable, server-rendered where it needs to be dynamic — on Cloudflare's edge network with D1 for data persistence. No traditional servers, no database management, no infrastructure overhead.
The site is used by residents, parish councils, and community groups across the district. It demonstrates that the same technology stack we use for commercial clients can be applied to build genuinely useful public resources — fast, accessible, and built to evolve as the consultation process moves through its stages.