Digital Planning
Our work continues to standardise the planning application process to build a more data-rich planning system. After inviting everyone to review the baseline specifications for submitting an application, we’re now focused on preparing them to become mandated national standards, through rigorous testing and active collaboration. Working in the open remains our priority and we’re particularly keen to gather everyone’s input over the next 3 months to directly shape our ongoing work and priorities.
The PropTech Innovation Challenge has revealed the potential for technology to revolutionise planning and housing delivery. Attracting 84 applications, with 225 partners, it demonstrates industry-wide commitment to finding innovative solutions which can help us meet our ambitious target of 1.5 million new homes.
This week, the Prime Minister officially launched Extract, the AI tool which the Digital Planning programme in MHCLG and the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence are developing to transform decades of planning information trapped in paper maps and PDFs into usable digital data.
This technology will significantly reduce the time required to digitise documents from hours to minutes, freeing planning officers up to focus on applications rather than data management.
The Deputy Prime Minister has unveiled a package of measures to empower SME housebuilders to build out smaller sites faster. The Digital Planning programme’s £1.2 million PropTech Innovation Challenge is one of the initiatives included – designed to accelerate housing delivery across England by inviting tech innovators to partner with local authorities and developers to create cutting-edge solutions for small site development.
Innovation was sparked at the Local Government Innovation Hackathon, where 150 planners, technologists and digital leaders collaborated to solve real planning challenges. MHCLG proudly co-organised the event with Government Digital Service, Incubator for AI and Open Digital Planning, reimagining planning services through this hands-on approach.
The first-ever end-to-end digital planning product pilots have been launched across four local planning authorities. The pilots integrate the new products into a unified system to streamline the planning process. Early results are promising and demonstrate how digital innovation is creating a more efficient, transparent planning system for both local authorities and applicants.
As part of our work to modernise England's planning system we have been collaborating with over 40 organisations to draft new planning application data specifications which will help to revolutionise how planning data is structured and exchanged between local authorities and software providers. Whether you're a planning officer, developer, or technology provider, we’re now seeking wider input to review and refine our baseline specifications to help build a planning system that's truly fit for the 21st century.
Innovative pilots funded by the Digital Planning PropTech (property technology) Innovation Fund have given us key insights about building citizen trust, community cohesion and bridging generational divides. We were able to share these learnings at the recent 25th Belgo-British Conference, and come away with a few more.
The MHCLG Digital Planning programme is providing further grant funding to local planning authorities (LPAs), for specific digital, data and innovation work, to modernise their planning services. In this blog post, we set out the allocation of funding for a range of improvements and projects which will transform planning processes and deliver efficiencies.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) Digital Planning Programme coordinates Open Digital Planning (ODP) – a cross-sector partnership of forward-thinking local planning authorities (LPAs) working together to create a more efficient, data-driven planning system.
Over the last 4 years, we’ve worked closely with council officers to understand their technology and data challenges and have used these insights to drive meaningful change.
