UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
Laying the foundations for better local public services
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Read on to hear more about the work of the DLUHC Digital Planning Programme, our latest funding opportunities and ways you can engage with the work of our teams and partners. Our latest rounds of funding opened on Tuesday 17 October. The Local Authority projects we fund will align with DLUHC’s vision of enabling a modern and efficient planning system in England, shifting a documents-based system to one that is data-driven, standards-based, and powered by modern user-centred products and services. Local Authorities are invited to apply for funding through both the: If you are interested in these opportunities please check the Digital Planning website for more information about the funds, the application process and upcoming Q&A sessions for applicants. You can view the funding launch event slides here. We have published our Digital Planning Programme Overview, explaining the problem we are trying to solve and our goals and aspirations, which are centred around four key outcomes: These four areas of work will help shift the current documents-based planning system to one that is powered by data and modern user-centred products and services. We invite you to read our programme overview and get in touch through [email protected] if you have any questions. This week Housing and Planning Minister, Rachel Maclean MP has launched a new Property Technology (PropTech) Steering Board made up of experts to transform the UK’s housing and planning sector. The Board will explore how new technology can support councils to speed up planning decisions by using PropTech tools to streamline community engagement with planning applications and support developers to identify suitable sites for homes. You can find out more about the board and its members on our website. Ahead of Round 4 of the PropTech Innovation Fund opening, the team ran a series of discovery sessions open to local authorities, suppliers and industry partners which aimed to act as a space to share knowledge on how digital tools can improve land assessment, and inform the scope of the funding round. It was great to hear first-hand the level of ambition and appetite for adoption of tools to support plan-making, regeneration, and infrastructure delivery. As part of our commitment to working in the open, championing collaboration, and #DoingPlanningDifferently we shared some of the discussion points on LinkedIn. Our Digital Planning Local Plans colleagues have been on the road over the past few weeks, engaging with more than 200 Local Planning Authorities and 40 consultants about the digital vision set out in the Local Plans consultation, which closed this week. The team presented our ambition for faster, simpler, more accessible plans that deliver better outcomes, while gaining further insight into the opportunities and challenges in the current plan-making system. Find out more about the insight gathered at the roadshows in our recent LinkedIn article. Open Digital Planning (ODP) is a community of forward thinking Local Planning Authorities working together to transform the planning system. Members have been working with technology companies to design new digital planning products that demonstrate what better software could look like. So far teams have collaborated on PlanX and BOPS software and the Digital Site Notices project. ODP councils run monthly public show and tells which are designed to empower planners with valuable knowledge and insights. Recent sessions have explored PlanX and BOPS in more depth and recordings are available on YouTube. Details of upcoming events are shared on the ODP Project’s LinkedIn page if you would like to attend in future. The National Planning Conference, hosted by Planning Portal and the Royal Town Planning Institute, takes place in Birmingham on 9 and 10 November. The conference brings together planning professionals, industry bodies, public sector and service providers to discuss issues in the world of planning. Visit the conference website to book tickets and to see the line-up of speakers, panel discussions, and breakout sessions available. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities #DLUHCDigital team are holding a series of Recruitment Days in the West Midlands during November. The sessions will offer an opportunity for digital professionals to connect with members of DLUHC’s digital teams, have two-way conversations and potentially get hired. Each day will be dedicated to different roles: Find out more in this blog post It was fantastic to see one of the programme’s PropTech Innovation Fund pilot projects featured in this month’s edition of The RTPI’s Planner magazine! Epsom & Ewell Borough Council are #DoingPlanningDifferently by working with The Future Fox on a project which sees the council’s planning team explore the use of artificial intelligence to analyse responses to draft local plans. You can find out more about the work of the DLUHC Digital Planning Programme on our website, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, the Open Digital Planning website and our data platform. Got a question? You can contact the team by emailing [email protected]
Read on to hear more about this month’s significant milestone, your last chance to access 2023 funding, and award nominations galore. At the end of October, a milestone was reached when the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill received Royal Assent and became the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act. This sets the stage for significant transformative developments for housing and planning. Planning data powers in the Act enable the setting of consistent data standards for how planning authorities receive and process planning data, for the open publishing of data and approval of planning data software. Regulations will follow the Bill becoming law and there will be an incremental approach to the rollout of data standards across the planning system based on planning policy area. In the dynamic world of digital services, a pivotal moment arrives when a team transitions from sharing knowledge to quantifying their impact on real users. The closer our efforts align with user needs, the easier it becomes to measure outcomes. Our Open Digital Planning software is a prime example, significantly reducing the number of invalid planning applications and the strain on planners. Our work on plan making aims to streamline the process, making it less uncertain and more efficient for local planning authorities. The use of digital community engagement tools can lead to more meaningful consultation responses that can be processed swiftly, adding measurable value to the mix. Evaluating the worth of data availability is notoriously complex, often making the case for data platforms a tough sell. In our latest LinkedIn article, we’re expanding on this conversation and offering solutions to some of the issues being faced in this space. There’s just a couple of weeks left to apply for the Digital Planning Improvement Fund: Round 2 and the PropTech Innovation Fund: Round 4. We’ve been hosting a series of Q&A events for local authorities and suppliers and have added the frequently asked questions to our website. We’ve got two Q&A sessions remaining which are still open for registration. These are taking place on: You’ll have the opportunity to chat with the DLUHC team and previously funded councils to ask questions and find out more about what it’s like to apply and be part of the funding. Don’t forget that applications close at 5pm on Friday 1 December and you can apply here. Next week, two awards events are taking place where both the DLUHC Digital Planning Programme and PropTech Innovation Fund partners are shortlisted. Both the UK PropTech and Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence celebrate those striving to drive digital change and push boundaries across the industry. Our PropTech Innovation Fund has been shortlisted for a UK PropTech 2023 award in the ‘Innovation Catalyst; Fostering Business Evolution’ category, and Harlow and Gilston Garden Town have been nominated in the Social Impact category following their PropTech Innovation Fund pilot project. Meanwhile, Bolsover District Council are finalists in the ‘Excellence in Digital Planning Practice’ category at the RTPI awards for their PropTech Innovation Fund pilot project working in collaboration with The Future Fox and Digital Urban Place. Good luck to all the teams involved, and if you have an achievement to shout about, get in touch! Last Wednesday was World Town Planning Day and the RTPI launched a really important campaign – ‘It Takes Planners’ – which aims to battle misinformation and celebrate the vital role that planners play as partners in our planning system. We’re #DoingPlanningDifferently to enable a modern and efficient planning system in England, and it wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of #PlannersAnd digital partners from across the industry. You can find out more about how to get involved in the RTPI’s campaign by visiting their website to access a campaign toolkit and a variety of sharable resources. You can find out more about the work of the DLUHC Digital Planning Programme on our website, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, the Open Digital Planning website and our data platform. Got a question? You can contact the team by emailing [email protected]
Read on to hear more about this month’s significant milestones, an ambitious 10-year plan, and award success. But first, thank you to everyone who put in so much work applying for our 2023 Digital Planning funding rounds. We’ve had a record number of applications and we’ll have an update for those who applied early next year. Open Digital Planning (ODP) project partners have published their 10-year vision for 2023-2033which sets out why the project is needed, the progress made so far, and specific aims for progress by 2025 and 2033. The aim is to transform the local authority planning landscape in England by 2033 and to be at the centre of an ecosystem supporting advanced digital planning services. As the ODP community progresses, the built environment sector can expect significant changes in local council planning services. In the short-term the team have an aspiration for ODP to be a community of users that have adopted multiple products that greatly improve the planning application process for applicants and planning officers. You can find out more about the project on the ODP website. Estimates show that less than 1% of the population of a district engage in the development of their Local Plan in the current system, despite consultations being an important method of gathering community input. We’ve been working with local authorities to increase their consultation responses, support responses from a more diverse audience, and create more positive conversations about planning through the adoption of digital tools. Alongside this work, pilots funded through Round 2 of the PropTech Innovation Fund also looked at how the adoption of digital tools could reduce officer time spent analysing consultation responses. One council reported efficiency savings of up to £18,000 from the pilot, enabling resources to be redistributed to community engagement. Check out our latest local authority case studies to find out more. Our data platform, planning.data.gov.ukwas launched in 2022 and aims to help users create services to inform planning and housing decisions in England. It makes planning and housing data easy to find, understand, use and trust. We know a range of organisations use the platform for different things, for example PropTech companies have reported using the data to create innovative digital citizen engagement tools which enable more meaningful responses to planning consultations that can be processed swiftly. We’re keen to learn more about our users and if that’s you, we would appreciate insight into how you are currently making use of the platform and understand how you may wish to use it in the future. We would appreciate a few moments of your time to complete this short formwhich will help us shape project work and future engagement with users in 2024. PropTech Innovation Fund partners, Bolsover District Council received ‘commended’ at the Royal Town Planning Institute Awards for Planning Excellence at the end of last month. The team were finalists in the ‘Excellence in Digital Planning Practice’ category and were highlighted for striving to drive digital change and push boundaries across the industry. Following funding from our PropTech Innovation Fund the team developed a ground-breaking, web-based interactive feature to help gamify plan-making consultations and drive collaboration and engagement as part of their PlaceBuilder Create-a-Town feature, in conjunction with The Future Fox and Digital Urban Congratulations to all involved and don’t forget to get in touch to share your wins! This LinkedIn article from the Open Digital Planning (ODP) project team delves into the development of the innovative Back Office Planning System (BOPS). The aim of BOPS is to centralise the key functions needed to assess and determine a planning application into one system. This article explores the inner workings of the BOPS Delivery Working Group, how they collaborate, what they aim to achieve, and their vision for the future. You can find out more about the work of the DLUHC Digital Planning Programme on our website, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, the Open Digital Planning website and our data platform. Got a question? You can contact the team by emailing [email protected]
As we wrap up the year, it’s time to hit play, crank up the volume, and groove through the highlights of 2023. Firstly, a huge thank you to all of the local planning authorities (LPAs) and other stakeholders we’ve had the chance to work with this year, we’re looking forward to continuing our journey and seeing what’s to come in 2024. If you are new here, you can read our programme overview to get a feel for the work we do across DLUHC’s Digital Planning programme. We awarded 19 councils a total of £5.3M in funding to lead and take part in digital projects that will encourage quicker planning decisions and improve digital planning software, and a further 15 councils £3.2M through Round 3 of the PropTech Innovation Fund which supported LPAs to scale digital solutions which aim to improve citizen engagement within the planning process. We won the Digital Change Project of the Year Award for our collaborative work on Open Digital Planning at the Government Project Delivery Awards, and the Best Use of Digital and Technology at the iESE Public Sector Digital Transformation Awards. Our PropTech Innovation Fund was also included in the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation’s Global Trends in Government Innovation 2023 report, and we were shortlisted for the UK PropTech 2023 Awards for striving to drive digital change across the industry. PropTech Innovation Fund recipients, Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan team, also won an accolade at the 2023 Planning Awards for the Use of Digital Technology in Planning and Bolsover District Council received commended at the RTPI awards for Excellence in Digital Planning. In October we launched DLUHC’s Digital Planning Programme 2023 funding rounds, with the Digital Planning Improvement Fund: Round 2, and the PropTech Innovation Fund: Round 4. Funding applications closed this month and we’re currently working through a record number of applications. If you applied, we’ll be in touch in early 2024 with more information on the outcome of your submission. Increasing citizen participation by 119% and saving 280 hours of planning officer time are just two of the outcomes we’ve found from the council-led Digital Planning projects funded through DLUHC’s PropTech Innovation Fund. This year, we’ve published case studies from across Digital Citizen Engagement pilot projects and learnings from the PropTech Innovation Fund. These examples showcase how the adoption of digital tools can reduce planning officer time spent analysing consultation responses; increase engagement with planning in local areas and support more positive conversations. Our work depends on collaboration with local authorities, the planning software market and the PropTech industry. That’s why we’ve spent lots of time on the road, hosting monthly Open Digital Planning Show and Tells, and speaking at events like the at Crown Commercial Service’s Public Sector Connect DigiTech Event – ‘Digital First, supporting the next generation of public services’, the London PropTech Show, the UKREiiF conference, and London CREtech Conference. It’s also why early in the year DLUHC’s former Housing and Planning Minister, Lucy Frazer MP, visited our Open Digital Planning partner, Buckinghamshire Council to see Digital Planning software in action and discuss the council’s wider ideas for streamlining the planning process. Local Plans colleagues also spoke to more than 200 LPAs and 40 planning consultants on their roadshow about plan making reforms and how we’re #DoingPlanningDifferently and our vision for faster, simpler, more accessible plans that deliver better outcomes. We gathered lots of insight and shared a LinkedIn article about what we learned. Another highlight has been the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill receiving Royal Assent and becoming the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act in October, setting the stage for significant transformative developments for housing and planning. We brought conversations about data out into the open this year as we announced our very own Paul Downey as the Service Owner for Planning Data. He blogged about the new role and his vision as we build on current data successes. We also explored how to measure the unmeasurable as the reach and impact of data demands more than just web analytics. We’ll be releasing more on data early next year and would love to hear how you are already using our data platform, planning.data.gov.uk Finally, we can’t close out this year without celebrating the social value programme we’ve been working on this year with New City College students and Version 1. Where we’ve been supporting special educational needs and disabilities students through a four-session program, centred around design thinking concepts, to nurture creativity, communication, and user-focused design. Well done to all involved. We hope you’ve enjoyed our chart-topping content this year. If you’re not already, follow us on LinkedIn and X, and subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter to see how we’re #DoingPlanningDifferently. On behalf of the entire DLUHC Digital Planning Team I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful festive season and a very happy new year – see you in 2024! Milan
Read on to hear reflections from our last Show and Tell of 2023, job opportunities and important dates for your 2024 diary. If you work for a partner organisation, don’t forget to get in touch to tell us about your successes so that we can shout about them across the year! In the last few weeks of December we held our final Show and Tell of 2023, showcasing PropTech Innovation Fund projectsfrom Round 3 and Continuous Funding. The significance of collaboration has been a resounding theme across projects so far – building products and platforms that not only solve a range of problems but are also user-friendly and show real impact. These collaborations extend beyond traditional boundaries, reaching out to academia, charities, and community groups. The partnerships formed bring diverse perspectives together, enriching our projects with fresh insights and building momentum. During the Show and Tell, we heard from Bradford City Council about the value of engaging with academia. They explained how their university partnerships are allowing them to tap into cutting-edge research and knowledge, ensuring that solutions are co-designed and rooted in the latest advancements. Francesca Johns, our Strategic Engagement Lead, has shared some reflections on the eventas we kick off 2024. Our data platform, planning.data.gov.ukwas launched in 2022 with the aim of helping users create services to inform planning and housing decisions in England. It makes planning and housing data easy to find, understand, use and trust. We know people are using it, but we’d like to know more so that we can understand how it could be developed in the future and make appropriate updates. This short form takes just a few moments to complete. Many thanks to those who have already responded. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is hosting its next Digital Recruitment event on 6 and 7 February. Taking place in Darlington, the department will be recruiting four key digital roles within the product delivery and user experience specialisms: Some of these roles will even involve working with us here in Digital Planning! The event will provide a chance to learn more about how DLUHC Digital teams work, ways to develop and grow your career with DLUHC, and explore the range of staff benefits on offer. You’ll also get an opportunity to tell DLUHC a bit about yourself, your skills, experience and aspirations. The event is informal and, for the right people, the team are looking to make job offers quickly, making it a great way to potentially fast-track your job search. We’ve looked up when some of the most popular planning conferences will be taking place, so you don’t have to! Future Cities World Café is set to be the team’s first event appearance in 2024 so keep your eyes peeled for more information on our session.
Read on to hear how we’ve been refining our data standards design process to make it more repeatable and modular, what the ‘open’ in Open Digital Planning really stands for, an update on funding rounds, and where you can find us this month. We’ve been developing and refining our data standards design process to make it more repeatable and modular. In this article, one of our service designers talks about how a more repeatable process can ensure more consistent, accessible and high-quality results, which are easier for others to follow. He also explores how the team are taking a modular approach to make it easier to track and share progress, identify issues, and target interventions. Last month Digital Planning colleagues presented how our programme is delivering on our mission, how we’re managing the complexity and scale of our work, and how we’re creating real value for users at DLUHC’s Digital Capability away day. They explained how our team structure is designed to include a mix of skills from digital, data and technology, policy, engagement and central services like communications and portfolio management, allowing us to run as a collaborative and iterative programme that is capable of developing digital services and interventions in an agile way, but at a scale which utilises the governance and project delivery functions required for a major government project. Thank you to Baljit Singh Rakhra and May-N Leow, our Head of Delivery and Head of Product, for their excellent presentation. It’s an approach to designing a more inclusive market ecosystem for planning services in the UK. Digging deeper, our latest article, ‘What we mean by ‘open’ digital planning’, written by Matt Wood-Hill, one of the architects of the Open Digital Planning community, explores the practical implications of this approach. Take a moment to read and uncover how ‘open’ digital planning actively supports a modern planning system and learn how you can get involved. Applications for Round 4 of the PropTech Innovation Fund and Round 2 of the Digital Planning Improvement Fund closed at the end of last year with a record number of submissions. We have finished working through applications and are planning for onboarding new local authorities, we hope to release more information in the coming weeks. A huge thank you to everyone who put so much work into their submissions and are looking to improve the planning experience for residents and planners. We look forward to collaborating with you and #DoingPlanningDifferently! Thanks to everyone who attended the digital recruitment event in the North East this week. Hosted by the DLUHC Digital team, it was the second event of its kind for product and delivery managers, service designers and user researchers and was hugely successful. Our very own Milan introduced the organisation and some of the great career opportunities here at DLUHC Digital. If you’re interested in a job with Digital Planning, follow our LinkedIn and Twitter/X accounts to be the first to find out about future recruitment opportunities. This year’s London PropTech Show will take place on 27 and 28 February at London’s ExCeL. The two days will address current challenges, deliberate latest trends, and exciting advancements in the PropTech industry. Speaking at the event will also be Lee Rowley MP, Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Building Safety. y
Welcome to our latest newsletter where we’re confirming the recipients of our funding initiatives, discovering the latest advancements in Open Digital Planning, and sharing exciting updates from our partners, including Cornwall Council’s innovative virtual reality showcase of the Mid Cornwall Metro route. Before we get started, we’re currently advertising for a Head of Communications to support our award-winning programme. They’ll be developing and delivering a communications strategy that uses digital communications, events and other tools to raise our profile, generate partnerships and increase our impact. We’re looking for someone to lead on ensuring our messaging and communications are simple, effective and consistent. If you know someone who might be interested, please do pass on the job advert. It closes on 19 March. Last year we offered Local Planning Authorities the chance to apply for the PropTech Innovation Fund, and/or the Digital Planning Improvement Fund. We had a record number of applications and were delighted at the end of last month to share the initiatives we’ll be funding to innovate digital planning services alongside their tech partners. The work will help to enable #DoingPlanningDifferently through enabling a modern and efficient planning system in England that moves away from being document-based to being data driven, standards-based, and powered by user-centred products and services. Open Digital Planning (ODP) are relaunching their Digital Site Notice tool, which empowers residents to stay informed about new planning developments and share their views. It also provides planners with a streamlined approach to collect structured and meaningful feedback. The concept of a Digital Site Notice originated at Camden Council during the Covid-19 pandemic, in response to the need for enhanced resident engagement during lockdown. Its inception aimed to streamline resident interaction with local developments, providing clarity on planning applications and offering an avenue for community feedback. Its success in Camden captured the attention of other local authorities who recognised its potential in the broader transformation of planning. Now, a few years later, the product has become part of the ODP product ecosystem. Community members Jonathan McClue and Zung Nguyen have blogged about the product’s recent improvements. We’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to present as part of the University of Kent’s planning policy module, shedding light on the emerging opportunities within digital planning. Our session aimed to highlight the transformative potential of digital technologies in shaping the future of urban development, infrastructure, and community engagement. We explored the potential impact of a range of digital approaches. Cornwall Council, in partnership with their tech partner Digital Urban, has been showcasing its Mid Cornwall Metro route by using a virtual reality balloon ride. As one of our PropTech Innovation Fund projects, the council has been giving residents the chance to see how the new rail routes, that aim to bring an hourly direct service between Newquay, St Austell, Truro, Penryn, and Falmouth, will look and add value to their local area. It was great to see them receiving some well-deserved airtime on BBC Spotlight for the initiative. For more on how council-led initiatives have designed more interactive approaches, improved engagement rates and increased transparency, check out the PropTech Innovation Fund case studies. You can find out more about the work of the DLUHC Digital Planning Programme on our website, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, the Open Digital Planning website and our data platform. Got a question? You can contact the team by emailing [email protected]
Welcome to our latest newsletter where we’re highlighting efforts to overcome barriers in adopting digital engagement tools for planning, plus emphasising the role of technology in streamlining processes, and improving community involvement. We’re also discussing collaborations with Ordnance Survey to facilitate data sharing, and with the London Borough of Camden where we’re showcasing the Digital Site Notice. It’s a jam-packed edition so let’s jump right in. Technology can play a vital role in enhancing community engagement and modernising the planning system. Through the PropTech Innovation Fund we’re supporting the PropTech sector and Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to accelerate the adoption of digital tools. This work has already demonstrated how innovative approaches improve the planning process for communities and local authoritiesas well as helping to reduce officer time spent analysing consultation responses. In our latest DLUHC Digital blog post, we look into the key barriers identified through our pilots and research, ranging from a lack of digital capacity within LPAs to challenges in market awareness and product capabilities. Read the full blog postto find out more about the role of government as a collaborator, steward, and funder, alongside the crucial involvement of partners such as PropTech companies and public bodies, we’re driving impactful change in planning. Understanding the process for creating and sharing planning data is crucial, especially when it comes to making the planning process more efficient. Recently, there’s been a significant effort to enhance data sharing through platforms like the Planning Data platform. We know that LPAs use Ordnance Survey (OS) data to digitalise various planning-related features, such as listed building outlines, tree preservation orders, and conservation area boundaries. However, questions have arisen about whether LPAs can share data created using OS maps and tools. While we believe most cases comply with the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement(PSGA), navigating its complexities can be daunting. That’s why we’re working closely with OS to ensure our platform aligns with PSGA conditions. You can read more about our ongoing work in this area. Open Digital Planning’s (ODP) Digital Site Notice is live in the London Borough of Camden and we would love to hear your feedback! The Digital Site Notice is an engagement tool that helps Local Planning Authorities keep residents up-to-date and involved in planning applications near them. It bridges the gap between residents and planners, making it easier for planners to collect high-quality, structured feedback and incorporate community insights into planning decisions. Going forward the tool will store all applications in a searchable index to create a record, public index, of the development history of the area. Let us know what you think by commenting below, sending us a private message, or emailing us at [email protected] We’re thrilled to have recently had the opportunity to present as part of the University of Kent’s planning policy module, and the University of Sheffield’s PropTech Students-Industry Day, shedding light on the emerging opportunities within digital planning. Our Kent session aimed to highlight the transformative potential of digital technologies in shaping the future of urban development, infrastructure, and community engagement, and we explored the potential impact of a range of digital approaches. With Sheffield we highlighted our PropTech and Digital Planning Programme, working to modernise the housing and planning ecosystem through partnerships with PropTech innovators and local authorities. Academia and visionary students like these play a pivotal role in propelling industry transformation, so it was wonderful to have the chance to speak with them. As we embark on Round 4 of the PropTech Innovation Fund, we’re eager to partner with more universities. Informed Solutions are extending an invitation for their next Innovation Showcase virtual event – 2pm to 3pm on Wednesday 17 April. During the session, they’ll be demonstrating how AI is revolutionising casework processes for planning and land asset management teams. They’ll also explore the practical application of AI to improve the speed and efficacy of decision-making on planning proposals. You’ll be hearing from NatureScot on how they successfully piloted a new software product, InformedDECISION™, winning them a Scottish Planning Innovation Award. The software enabled decision-makers to categorise and extract meaning from large, distributed, and unstructured data sources in real-time, identifying anomalies, similarities, and other patterns to support and enhance complex decision-making. Register for the free event by 16 April
Welcome to our latest newsletter. In this edition, a reminder for all Planning Officers to share your experiences through our survey as part of an impact evaluation on the Digital Planning Programme and get ready for the UKREiiF, where we’ll be showcasing the latest in digital planning and innovation. Plus, watch our new BOPS demo for application validation tips and learn how Lancaster University is using gaming to engage communities. Read on for all the latest news and updates! We’ve commissioned RSM and PUBLIC to deliver an independent evaluation of the Digital Planning programme. The evaluation will focus on the impact and benefits we’ve delivered and will help shape the way in which the programme can continue to support Local Planning Authorities. If you’re a Planning Officer in England, we’d love to hear about your personal experiences through responses to the Digital Planning programme Planning Officer survey. An email with a link to the survey has been sent to each Local Planning Authority. Responses will be used to inform the impact evaluation of the Digital Planning programme. The survey is open until Friday 24 May. It’s time to have your say. We’re gearing up for UKREiiF, the UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum, taking place in Leeds on 21-23 May. With over 12,000 attendees and influential voices from across the built environment, the event will offer us an opportunity to connect with industry leaders and the more than 250 local authorities taking part. As well as hosting sessions, we’re involved in talks, roundtables, exhibitions and networking opportunities. Where to find us: If you’ll be there and are unable to attend one of the above, come find us at the UK PropTech hub stand J40 in the Royal Armouries where we’d love to discuss the latest in digital planning with you. It’s shaping up to be a great couple of days! Open Digital Planning have been demonstrating their Back Office Planning System (BOPS) for Local Planning Authorities. In the video, you’ll be guided through validating a householder application in BOPS. It shows how to review the general information, check the red line boundary, update the development description, and ensure all documents are valid. Plus, how to instruct the applicant to present their case effectively using BOPS. Watch the demo for valuable insights into the BOPS validation process. In a great example of how to increase engagement in planning, last month, Lancaster University hosted their first co-delivered event as part of Round 4 of the PropTech Innovation Fund. The ‘Gaming & The Future City’ event at Campus in the City used innovative approaches to engage the community on urban innovation. Thanks to all those involved. The team received requests to host more events like it. We release regular articles showcasing our research, innovative projects, and the incredible work of Local Planning Authorities we partner with. Don’t miss these recent highlights from the past month: Stay ahead of the curve by following us on LinkedIn! Hit that follow button to stay informed and be the first to know about our latest breakthroughs.
Welcome to our latest newsletter. The government has changed since our last edition, and our department is now called Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. In this issue, we’re sharing highlights from our latest artificial intelligence research, showing how it can help to streamline the planning process. Plus, we reveal some eye-catching case studies, demonstrating how our work with Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) and PropTech Innovation Round 3 fundingis delivering impressive results, tackling common planning challenges. We also include details of one of our upcoming speaking engagements at Digital Government Expo in September where we’re excited to talk about some practical examples of how digital tools are helping modernise the planning system. Read on for all the latest news and updates! Planning documents contain vast amounts of valuable information, but accessing and using this data can be challenging. In a promising six-week project, alongside Faculty AI, we’ve explored the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify the extraction of key information from planning documents. By developing a chatbot and a standard classification system, the partnership demonstrated that AI could efficiently process large volumes of data, improving accuracy and accessibility for planning officers. Although AI’s effectiveness depends on input data quality, this project highlights its potential to automate administrative tasks, allowing planning professionals to focus on strategic decisions. For more details on this exciting project, read the full article and watch the Faculty AI project video. Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) around the country are doing some amazing work with PropTech Innovation Round 3funding, piloting new tools and technology to tackle common challenges. Public consultations are a vital part of planning, yet participation rates for large consultations have historically been relatively low, and while more citizen engagement in consultations is desirable, it tends to make data processing slower and the consultation timeframe longer. Plymouth City Council, South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Councilhave taken a new approach with Natural Language Processing dramatically improving the time spent processing and validating each consultation response by 66%, saving up to 10 minutes per response. London Borough of Wandsworthfound they could reduce the cost of producing a consultation report by 80% and reduce the time taken to produce each consultation report by approximately 98% – from 4 months to 3 days, while working to make night-time in Wandsworth safer and more inclusive for people in the area. More case studies are coming soon so keep an eye on our Digital Planning case studies pagefor further stories that show scalable results that can support business cases for adopting new planning technology. We’re looking forward to Digital Government Expo this year. On 24 September 2024 at 1.05pm we’ll be on the Citizen Experience stage talking about how we’re doing planning differently, revolutionising citizen engagement in planning through the PropTech Innovation Fund. We’ll be sharing examples and answering questions around tackling the barriers to adoption of digital tools. We’ll look at progress made so far with PropTech supporting Local Planning Authorities when it comes to consultations and we’ll consider what role PropTech is playing in delivering wide ranging benefits. It’s bound to be a lively session with plenty of time for questions. You can find out more about the event and register to attend (free for the public sector) at www.digital-government.co.uk.
Welcome to our latest newsletter. In this edition, we’re talking you through the difference our new Digital Citizen Engagement toolkit – a much-anticipated resource for Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) – can make to you. We’re also revealing some more examples of industry-leading work showing how PropTech Innovation Round 3 funding is delivering benefits for various LPAs around the country. Plus, we’ve confirmed three events we’ll be speaking at this month including The Digital Planning Directory: Service Provider Open Engagement Event– if your organisation supports the UK’s planning sector then register to attend and find out why this is a landmark moment. Read on for all the latest news and updates! Our new Digital Citizen Engagement toolkitis designed specifically for LPAs. It offers a seven-step journey that will take you through everything you need to know to run a top performing consultation that fosters inclusive planning. The toolkit offers practical ways to elevate community interactions with the planning process and integrate digital methods with traditional engagement approaches. Explore how the toolkit works and share your views. LPAs around the country are doing some industry-leading work with PropTech Innovation Round 3 funding, piloting new tools and technology to tackle planning challenges. Cornwall Councilworked with Digital Urban to develop a virtual reality hot air balloon ride ‘flying’ over the route of a proposed rail upgrade. Helping the local community visualize the proposal and share their feedback had wide-reaching benefits. Meanwhile, London Borough of Hounslow and Chesterfield Borough Councilrecently piloted some enhancements to their Urban Intelligence software to see whether the consultation process could be streamlined. Not only did they find the volume of manual processing could be reduced, they also uncovered several other opportunities. For more on how council-led initiatives have delivered increasingly interactive approaches, improved engagement rates and greater transparency, check out the PropTech Innovation Fund Round 3 case studies. We’ll be speaking at three important industry events in September. Stay ahead of the curve by following us on LinkedIn! Hit that follow button to stay informed and be the first to know about our latest breakthroughs.
Welcome to our latest newsletter. In this edition you will discover how PropTech Innovation funding is tackling longstanding challenges for planning teams. You can also get the low-down on the new Digital Planning Directory which is now open for providers to register their details. As always, we also feature upcoming events such as Government Transformation Expo for your calendar. Across the country, Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) are using PropTech Innovation Round 3 funding to pioneer industry-leading work. By piloting new tools and technologies, they’re tackling longstanding planning challenges. West Oxfordshire District Council and Cotswold District Council have collaborated with Konveio to explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can dramatically reduce back-office processing times. Early results show planning officers saving up to 85% of their time, demonstrating AI’s potential to transform efficiency in planning. We’re thrilled to see they’ve been shortlisted in the Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning category at the Smarter Working Live 2024 awards. Meanwhile, at Harlow & Gilston Garden Town, digital tools are playing a pivotal role to help five councils involved in the regeneration of the area collect, visualise and share a large volume of consultation feedback from local communities. Their approach highlights how technology can streamline citizen consultations, ensuring sustainable planning that benefits the entire community. A ‘one-stop shop’ for cutting-edge digital planning services is now open for entries from providers before it launches for users in January 2025. The Digital Planning Directory is tailored to meet the needs of both public and private sector stakeholders, marking a key milestone in modernising planning practices. The directory is being delivered by the Digital Task Force for Planning with seed-funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. If you’re a digital planning service provider, register your details by 30 November 2024. The first 150 qualified UK-registered providers who register will enjoy a one-year free listing period. For more information or to register your services visit the Digital Planning Directory website or see the recording of the introduction event for digital planning service providers. To view the slides presented at the event, see here: 1. MHCLG Digital Planning Presentation: Reflections on Launch of the Digital Planning Directory 2. Digital Task Force for Planning: Digital Planning Directory Introduction We’re looking forward to Government Transformation Expo on 5 and 6 November and sharing our vision and progress towards transforming England’s planning system. On 6 November at 12.30pm, Digital Planning Programme Director Milan Bogunovic will be at the Digital Transformation Theatre. He’ll explore how the UK government is modernising the planning process and share the Digital Planning Programme’s progress so far with new digital tools for local authorities, enhanced citizen engagement and a more efficient and accessible planning system. Join usat this free-to-attend programme of government presentations. Stay ahead of the curve by following us on LinkedIn! Hit that follow button to stay informed and be the first to know about our latest breakthroughs.
Welcome to our latest newsletter. In this edition, you’ll find out about our upcoming virtual PropTech (property technology) Showcase, where several pilots from our latest funding round will share highlights of their projects. We also have details of how you can get involved in our new work on planning application submission specifications. On Thursday 28 November, 2pm-3pm, we’re hosting a showcase of three exciting pilots from Round 4 of our PropTech (property technology) Innovation Fund. Representatives from Greater Cambridge Shared Planning, Central Lincolnshire Council and Reigate and Banstead Borough Council will demonstrate how the use of digital tools is helping to modernise the planning system. They’ll share highlights from their projects including 3D mapping and visualisation, collaborative planning and the implementation of site assessment modelling software. Register to receive an invitation. The meeting will also be recorded. Data and data standardisation is at the heart of the Digital Planning team’s mission to modernise England’s planning system. We have been working hard to collect planning and housing data from Local Planning Authorities and make it consistent across England for the planning data platform. The team is now also looking to develop data specifications for planning applications submissions. We want to identify where specifications are needed, and define them clearly, considering how the planning community will use this data. We want to work collaboratively and openly with people across the planning community, from both public and private sectors, on this important initiative. To support this, we’re forming a working group, which will hold its first meeting on 27 November. During this session we hope to establish a charter and share our initial findings from analysing existing planning application forms. Find out how you can get involved in our recent MHCLG Digital blog. If you’re a digital service provider, you have until the end of November to submit your entry and secure a free one-year listing in the new Digital Planning Directory, launching this January. The Directory will be a comprehensive online resource featuring digital planning services, organised into ten helpful categories such as community engagement, visualisation, land search, plan-making and urban design. The launch in the new year, will be a key milestone for anyone looking to use digital services to modernise the planning system. Government Transformation Week provided plenty of opportunities for cross-sector collaboration. Milan Bogunovic, Digital Planning Programme Director, spoke about the digital transformation of the planning system and we were thrilled that Milan and Bridget Wilkins, the programme’s Head of Adoption, Engagement and Innovation, were selected for the 2024 Government Transformation 100 – awards honouring individuals who have made outstanding contributions to transforming public services. Bridget was recognised in the Citizen Experience category and Milan as a Digital Transformation Thought Leader. We’re excited to be partnering with the UK PropTech Association for the 2024 UK PropTech Awards, taking place later this month. This partnership reflects our shared vision of a digitally enabled and customer-centric future for the property industry and the opportunity this brings to transform the planning system. We’ve enjoyed judging several award categories and look forward to celebrating with everyone on 28 November alongside the UK PropTech Association (UKPA) and the British Property Federation. Stay ahead of the curve by following us on LinkedIn! Hit that follow button to stay informed and be the first to know about our latest breakthroughs.
Santa’s not the only one busy making lists and checking them twice – this year, like elves in Santa’s workshop, we’ve been hard at work building digital tools, software, and guidance for Local Planning Authorities (LPAs). As we see out 2024, we have unwrapped some of the goodies we’ve delivered to the planning world. From growing the Open Digital Planning(ODP) community to over 100 Local Planning Authorities (the largest community of LPAs in the country), to unveiling shiny new resources, 2024 has been all about delivering value that lasts longer than a tin of Christmas biscuits. Applications for Round 4 of the PropTech (property technology) Innovation Fundclosed at the end of last year with a record-breaking number of submissions. This meant that we supported 37 PropTech pilot projects across 49 LPAs, focusing on digital citizen engagement, fast-tracking site assessments and speeding up the local plans process. We’ll be reporting on their outcomes next year. Meanwhile here are a few of the standout moments some of our other PropTech projects have achieved this year: 🎅 London Borough of Wandsworth: Used an engagement platform to slash consultation report writing timelines by 98%. 🎄 Cornwall Council: Increased the diversity of consultation responses using virtual reality. They achieved a 75% positive sentiment for their virtual balloon ride exhibition and at their events achieved a 10% jump in under 40s joining in. ✨ West Oxfordshire and Cotswold District Council: Saved time using artificial intelligence tools, cutting 85% off the time usually needed to summarise and collate consultation responses. 🔔 Nottingham City Council: Produced evidence that investing in 3D modelling can double the returnsin town planning benefits for LPAs. To help LPAs adopt such digital tools our Digital Citizen Engagement Toolkitwas published this year – a user-centred guide designed to make consultations feel less like a frosty chore and more like a warm cup of hot chocolate. Featuring a seven-step user journey, it’s designed to guide LPAs through the process for adopting digital tools, making their consultations more efficient and planning more inclusive. If you’re someone who likes to see things in action, check out the recording of our recent PropTech showcase, featuring presentations from three LPAs and how they have modernised their processes. 2024 has been a landmark year for our Open Digital Planning community, which continues to go from strength to strength. The 49 LPAs supported by PropTech funding have joined the growing network and thanks to our Digital Planning Improvement Fund, an additional 43 councils have also come on board – bringing the group to 107 members. These forward-thinking councils are benefiting from training, resources and networking and are leading the way to develop a more efficient, data-driven planning system. To support them on their digital journey, this year we have launched a Digital Planning Maturity Assessment, which many have completed. This crucial first step helps authorities understand their current digital capabilities and maps out their journey towards a more digitally enabled future. A vital part of this is to improve and publish datasets on the Planning Data platformwhich has seen further growth this year, establishing itself as the authoritative hub for planning data across the country. With 158 high quality datasets now available, we are supporting LPAs to add to this valuable, open resource which both public and private sectors can trust, transforming how data is accessed and used to transform the planning system. Members of the ODP community have continued to work together to build products to dramatically improve people’s experiences of making and processing planning applications. 🎁 PlanX,now live in 18 LPAs – including ‘Find out if you need planning permission’ – is showing some magical results. Just ask Camden Council, which has saved 21 officer hours a month. 🎁 BOPS (Back Office Planning System)was tested in 10 LPAs. It has trimmed 20% off planning application processing times, achieved a 45% time-saving on household assessments and improved efficiency for lawful development certificates – saving 7.3 minutes per application. 🎁And let’s not forget the Digital Site Notice Tool, part of the Digital Planning Register, which is redefining how councils engage with communities. It’s like Rudolph lighting the way for clearer, more transparent planning. An end-to-end pilot to test all the ODP products is now underway with five trailblazing LPAs – Barnet, Buckinghamshire, Camden, Lambeth, and Medway – to discover if they can deliver faster workflows and a better experience for planners, agents and citizens alike. As well as working on modern software products we’re transforming how planners create or update their local plans and have been developing a new service which is due to launch soon. The new web pages for planners will bring all essential guidance and tools – both existing and new – into one user-friendly place, to help speed up the plan-making process. This has all been shaped by extensive user testing and feedback to meet LPA needs. From a programme-wide perspective, we were chuffed to be a finalist at the APM Project Management Awards for Programme of the Year 2024 and Milan Bogunovic, Digital Planning Programme Director, was named in this year’s Government Transformation 100, an award celebrating those driving change in public services. We’re passionate about making all data on our platform open and accessible. That’s one of the reasons we teamed up with Ordnance Surveyto help LPAs navigate data sharing under the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA), ensuring our platform is compliant. We’ve also begun important work with the planning community to create a baseline data specification for planning applicationsand look forward to updating everyone on this in 2025. We teamed up with Faculty AIto explore how we could use artificial intelligence to process and extract key information buried in planning documents that contain vast amounts of valuable information. Who knew AI could be Santa’s little helper? And of course, collaboration is key with our Open Digital Planning (ODP) community. This merry band of digital planners has been spreading innovation far and wide. At our largest ODP event yet, over 130 attendees from 35 LPAs and public sector organisations gathered in Newcastle to drive digital planning forward. We have spread some planning cheer at major industry events like UKREiiF, the Public Sector Connect DigiTech event, and the Government Transformation Expo where we showcased how we’re #DoingPlanningDifferently. At UKREiiF, MHCLG tied a big, shiny bow on a new partnership with the Digital Task Force for Planning, paving the way for cutting-edge property tech to speed up the planning process so we can build the homes and infrastructure this country needs. We’re decking the halls with new projects for 2025: 🎄 In January, we’re joining the Digital Task Force for Planning to launch the Digital Planning Directory– a one-stop shop for finding digital planning service providers. 🎅 We’re continuing to support LPAs with new guidance and resources to help make the local plans process faster – with some great tools being unwrapped in the new year. ☃️ Expanding the ODP communityto support more LPAs with digital planning transformation. ✨ Building on PropTech pilot successes to explore how projects can be scaled to benefit other LPAs. 👪 We’ll continue to work with the planning community to create a baseline data specification for planning applications. We couldn’t have done any of this without the amazing LPAs, partners, and stakeholders who’ve worked with us. Your feedback and ideas are the star on top of our tree. Want to be part of digital planning transformation in 2025? If you’re an LPA not yet part of ODP, now’s the perfect time to register your interest to join the growing community. And don’t forget to continue to engage with us on LinkedIn or directly to help us shape the future of digital planning. From all of us at the MHCLG Digital Planning Programme, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and a Happy New Year!
Welcome to the MHCLG Digital Planning Programme Newsletter!
MHCLG Digital Planning Programme 2023 funding rounds are now open!
How we’re #DoingPlanningDifferently
Rachel Maclean MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning announces new UK PropTech Steering Board
PropTech Innovation Fund: Discovery workshop insights
Spotlight on: Local Plans
Stay up to date with our Open Digital Planning project
Events, blogs and partner news
The National Planning conference returns
DLUHC Digital recruitment events
Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Planner magazine feature
Contact us
Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill becomes an Act
Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill receives Royal Assent
Spotlight on: Diving into data
Last chance to apply for DLUHC Digital Planning Programme 2023 funding rounds
Events, blogs and partner news
PropTech Fund in the spotlight with awards nominations
Highlighting the importance of planners
Contact us
Ambitious plans and showcasing best practice
An ambitious 10-year plan for Open Digital Planning
Spotlight on: Digital Citizen Engagement (DCE)
We’d love to know how you’re using our planning data platform
Events, blogs and partner news
Congratulations to Bolsover District Council!
Article: The collaborative effort behind the Back Office Planning System
Contact us
Digital Planning wrapped: Now that’s what I call 2023
Record breakers
Track of the year
Collaborative remixes
Tech the halls
Reflections, collaborations, and job opportunities
Reflections on collaborative projects from our PropTech Innovation Fund
How do you use our data platform?
Events, blogs and partner news
Digital recruitment days in the North East
Save the date: planning conference dates for this year
Elevating our data standards and discover the meaning behind ‘open’
Our data standards design process
Spreading the word at the Digital Capability away day
Ever wondered what the ‘open’ in Open Digital Planning means?
PropTech Innovation Fund and Digital Planning Improvement Fund update
This month’s digital recruitment day
Events, blogs and partner news
See you at the London PropTech Show!
Funding announcements, resident engagement, and bringing resident voices into Open Digital Planning
Digital Planning funding announcement
Bringing resident voices into Open Digital Planning
Knowledge sharing with the next generation
Events, blogs and partner news
Up, up and away for Cornwall Council
We want your feedback!
Identifying digital engagement tool adoption barriers
Collaborating with Ordnance Survey to facilitate data sharing
Digital Site Notice – making it easier to collect high-quality feedback for planning decisions
Knowledge sharing with the next generation
Events, blogs and partner news
Learn about real-world applications of AI in the planning sector
What you need to know about UKREiiF
Planning Officers, we want to hear from you
Where to find us at UKREiiF
How to validate a planning application in BOPS
Events, blogs and partner news
Lancaster University captivates students
In case you missed it…
Exploring artificial intelligence to streamline the planning process
New case studies unveiled with eye-catching results
Events
Digital Citizen Engagement toolkit
Modernising planning in action with these real-life examples
Events, blogs and partner news
PropTech Innovation funding shows results
Digital Planning Directory now open for entries
Events, blogs and partner news
PropTech Showcase
Data specifications for planning applications
Last chance to be an early bird – Digital Planning Directory
Industry recognition for our Digital Planning programme
Events, blogs and partner news
Christmas past: 2024’s greatest hits
Christmas present: Collaboration is king
Christmas future: What’s on the horizon?
A final Christmas cracker
