Step 4: Explore the Applicants Portal — Back Office Planning System (BOPS) Walkthrough

See the public-facing view of planning applications with maps and consultation dates

Step 4 of 4 • 4 minutes

Step 4 4 minutes

Explore the Applicants Portal

See the public-facing portal that residents and applicants use to view planning applications, check progress, and find consultation deadlines.

The public-facing applicants portal

Published applications show the site boundary on OS Maps with consultation dates and public comment submission

Expected outcome

• ✓ Applicants portal shows published planning applications on a map
• ✓ Application details include site boundary, description, and consultation dates
• ✓ Public comments section is available for applications in consultation

Find the Applicants Portal URL

1. Get the URL from CloudFormation outputs

   Go back to the CloudFormation console and find the ApplicantsPortalUrl output. This is a separate CloudFront HTTPS URL.

2. Browse the application list

   The portal landing page shows published planning applications. You should see around 10 applications that have been made public. Each shows:

   • Reference number — the BOPS application reference
   • Address — the site location
   • Description — what's being proposed
   • Status — current stage in the planning process
3. View the map

   The portal includes an interactive map showing application locations with site boundary polygons. If an Ordnance Survey API key was provided during deployment, you'll see OS Maps tiles. Otherwise, the map uses a basic tileset.

4. Open an application

   Click on any application to see its full public details:

   • Site boundary — red line boundary on the map
   • Application details — type, description, key dates
   • Consultation period — when public comments are accepted
   • Documents — plans and supporting documents (if uploaded)
5. Check consultation dates

   Published applications show consultation start and end dates. The seed data sets consultations to end 14 days from deployment, so you should see active consultation periods.

How the two portals connect

The applicants portal is a separate Rails application that reads data from the same Aurora PostgreSQL database via an internal API. When a planning officer publishes an application in the back-office, it appears on the public portal automatically.

Portal	Audience	Purpose
Back-office (Step 1-3)	Planning officers	Process, assess, and determine applications
Applicants portal (this step)	Residents and applicants	Track applications, view decisions, submit comments

This is the public face of BOPS: Residents can track their applications, neighbours can view proposals and comment during consultation, and everything stays in sync with the back-office system. No more phone calls asking "what's happening with my application?"

Need help?

If you're stuck, check the troubleshooting section or contact us.

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