Cut One Council Comment Into the Length Each Channel Allows — Free
Consultation portals cap submissions at a character count, letters take a page, and the spoken version at a meeting gets two minutes. Rewriting three times changes the emphasis each time, and the version that gets read is rarely the one you meant.
The proof surface
Free path: the tool computes locally in this browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — free tiers exist (Google AI Studio, Groq), but plans and limits change, so check the provider's own page. No third-party service is claimed here as verified: UNCONFIRMED — model has no browsing access this session.
Why the flat version breaks
A comment written for the portal is too short for the letter and too long for the spoken slot. Cascade the same source at each length and the wording stays consistent, which matters when a planning officer is comparing what you wrote with what you said.
How to use the consultation comment cascade form in four passes
Whole sentences with the reasons in order. The cascade cuts at sentence boundaries, so the structure you give it is the structure every shorter version inherits.
Portal character counts, a letter that fits one page, the speaking time in the meeting notice converted to characters. Limits invented for the exercise produce versions nobody can use.
The portal version is the formal comment; the letter is for the person who writes the report. Both come from the same sentences, so nothing you meant to say contradicts anything you did say.
The form notes the detail lost at the shortest length. If a reason disappears there, decide whether it is the caveat or the complaint that should go — and rehearse the version you will actually speak.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: the starter record cascades a planning objection into a 1,200-character portal comment, a letter and a 700-character spoken slot. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Submitting a fragment list instead of sentences
Bullet fragments cannot be cut at sentence boundaries and produce choppy short versions. If the statement is a list of objections, expand each one into a sentence first.
Letting the portal limit decide the argument
A one-thousand-character limit is a constraint, not a summary of your case. Use the cascade to keep the strongest sentences and put the rest in the letter, which has no such limit.
Assuming a spoken slot can be read at portal speed
Speaking is slower than reading, and chairs enforce time limits. Cut to the spoken figure and practise it once out loud — the cascade gives you a version that fits the clock.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| A planning consultant | Hourly rate for a comment an affected resident is entitled to make directly | $80–$250 an hour |
| A campaign copywriter | Fee for three lengths of a statement you already wrote | $150–$500 |
| A missed consultation deadline | Submission window closed because the comment was still being rewritten | the consultation |
| This page + the free consultation comment cascade form | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free consultation comment cascade form right here
Load the starter objection and shorten the spoken slot to 350 characters to see which reasoning disappears.
FIRST-LOAD · sample record filed
Take it into the free consultation comment cascade form
The companion app runs the same logic with a numbered intake, three starter records, a stateful share link, the one-time printable layer, and the local history shelf.
Open the free consultation comment cascade form →Keep the work if you will use it again
The full cascade: every channel cut at sentence boundaries with characters used against the limit, plus the dropped detail at the longest length, unlimited re-runs.
The on-screen result is free and complete. The one-time layer adds a tangible file you keep and the saved history that comes with it.
Boundary: This cuts text you wrote at sentence boundaries; it does not check facts, represent you or decide what a consultation accepts. Planning, transport and licensing procedures have their own rules and deadlines — check the notice and the council's published process, and quote the documents you rely on accurately.