11 consortiums of technology companies, local planning and combined authorities have been selected for Round 6 of the Digital Planning Programme’s PropTech Innovation Fund, to pilot digital solutions targeting blockers to housing delivery.
A new AI planning prototype, developed with Google DeepMind and Faculty, is being tested with three local planning authorities to help officers process applications faster. The tool analyses applications and surfaces relevant policies while planning officers remain the key decision makers. Our ambition is to halve processing times for householder applications.
Extract, a new AI-powered tool developed by MHCLG's Digital Planning Programme and i.AI, is now available for free, for every local planning authority in England. It converts planning documents into structured, usable data in minutes - cutting a process that can take officers up to two hours down to just two on average.
Regulations have been laid in Parliament requiring local planning authorities to publish plan and timetable data in a standardised format, when creating local, minerals, waste or supplementary plans under the new plan-making system. This marks a major step towards a more open, data-driven planning system.
Local planning authorities are modernising planning services using open data. New software like PlanX is improving the experience for applicants, while back-office improvements are speeding up processing. New funding will help more authorities adopt tools and make improvements, freeing up planning teams to focus on delivering the homes communities need.
We’re exploring if AI can help support faster local plan preparation. An AI tool developed by Greater Cambridge Shared Planning and the University of Liverpool is now being stress-tested by 5 local authorities, to see if the initial results – accurate consultation summaries produced in a fraction of the time - can be replicated elsewhere.
Planning data locked in PDFs and legacy systems creates barriers for everyone. This February, 49 more local planning authorities are joining the Digital Planning Improvement Fund to publish essential planning data in open, standardised formats making it easier for residents, businesses and developers to find what they need.
Every year, local planning authorities make hundreds of thousands of planning decisions. Right now, planning decisions are recorded in dozens of different formats. Find out about the work taking place to change that by creating a data standard for planning decisions.
Read about our year transforming England's planning system through new partnerships, innovations and momentum. Everything we do aims to give communities a planning system that is data-driven, efficient and accessible, supporting the government's mission to deliver 1.5 million homes this Parliament.
Read about the details of a new plan-making system for England. It will ensure local plans, which are created by councils to shape development in their area, are simpler, faster to prepare, and more accessible for everyone. Learn about new user-tested digital guidance and tools published in draft to help plan-makers deliver local plans faster.
