The government has announced two AI tools intended to modernise England's planning system, including a prototype that aims to halve the processing time for routine householder planning applications and a document digitisation tool now available to every local planning authority in England.
The first is a prototype known as Augmented Planning Decisions (APD), which aims to halve the time taken to process householder planning applications from eight to four weeks in an average case. It is in early-stage testing with Barnet, Camden and Dorset councils. The prototype triages applications, summarises key information and provides planning officers with an initial assessment they can consider when making their decision. It has been created by government together with Google DeepMind, Google Cloud, Faculty and local planning authorities.
MHCLG is funding APD with an £8.2 million contract with Google Cloud, Google DeepMind and delivery partner Faculty. Alpha trials began in May 2026. Subject to successful results, the government expects to expand trials to up to 10 additional councils later in 2026, with national rollout planned from 2027.
The second tool, Extract, is now available to all local planning authorities in England. It uses AI to help planning officers convert decades-old planning documents and maps, sometimes with handwritten notes, into readily useable data in minutes. Extract was developed by the government's expert applied AI team, the Incubator for AI (i.AI), working with MHCLG's Digital Planning programme.
Following trials across 20 local planning authorities in England including Exeter and Hillingdon, Extract is expected to save the average council around 255 hours of manual work digesting documents into digital form, down from more than 500. Across the sector, it will slash an estimated 250,000 hours a year spent by planning officers manually checking these documents.
Minister for Data and Modern Digital Government Ian Murray said: "When someone wants to add a bedroom or convert their loft, they shouldn't be waiting months for a straightforward decision. And planning officers shouldn't be spending hours digging through decades of paper records when making the decisions that really matter. These tools give planning officers better support to make quicker decisions and give families the answers they deserve, faster. This isn't about replacing the expertise and judgement of planning professionals; it's about taking admin off their desks so they can focus on the skilled work their communities need most."
Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook said: "Our planning system remains heavily reliant on cumbersome paper-based processes that consume the time of expert planning officers and cause delays on even the most routine types of application. We are dragging the system into the twenty-first century by harnessing the power of AI to streamline the planning application process, freeing up planners to make quicker and better decisions and reducing unnecessary delays."
The deployment of these tools engages a number of information governance considerations. On the APD prototype, the government has been explicit that human oversight is preserved: AI support for householder applications will help planning officers to make recommendations but the final decision will remain with a human.
Article 22 UK GDPR prohibits decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning individuals. The government expects that the insistence on human sign-off before any decision is made will ensure the tool falls outside the Article 22 prohibition by maintaining meaningful human review.
Graham Stallwood, Interim Chief Executive at the Planning Inspectorate, said: "AI guidance provided by the Planning Inspectorate upholds public and professional responsibility for the information generated and supports human control and oversight. We will keep our guidance under review to maintain this 'golden rule' for AI use, as this technology improves and we understand more about the impact on any casework."
The conversion of paper records containing handwritten notes into structured digital datasets involves the processing of personal data at scale, potentially creating new searchable records from material that was previously accessible only through laborious manual retrieval. Councils deploying Extract will need to satisfy themselves that this processing is lawful under the UK GDPR, including undertaking data protection impact assessments where the processing is likely to result in high risk. Planning documents, particularly historic ones, frequently contain personal data relating to applicants, objectors and third parties.
As part of Extract's rollout, the goal is that three national planning datasets - Article 4 Directions, Conservation Areas, and Tree Protection Orders - will be published on the Planning Data Platform.
The involvement of Google DeepMind and Google Cloud as technology partners for APD will also attract scrutiny around international data transfers and data processor agreements under Article 28 UK GDPR, particularly given the sensitivity of planning application data, which can include personal information about applicants' health, family circumstances and financial arrangements submitted in support of applications.
Naisha Polaine, Executive Director for Growth at Barnet Council, said: "The tool's ability to collect relevant information, undertake a provisional assessment, and draft the foundations of a report has the potential to save significant officer time spent working on the administration of planning applications and direct this to speeding up the decision-making process for residents. In turn, this will contribute significantly to delivering our house building growth targets in the borough."
Mike Keily, Chair of the Planning Officers Society, said: "Extract is a game changing tool as it unlocks the data trapped in PDFs and makes it available in digital form to be used by AI and other systems."
The announcement follows regulations laid in Parliament earlier this month to overhaul planning committees and speed up decisions on small planning applications. In April, planning data was standardised to enable faster processes.
