Two new AI tools are being rolled out across England's planning system with the goal of cutting decision times and delivering 1.5 million homes. A prototype in Barnet, Camden and Dorset aims to halve the time it takes to process householder planning applications - from eight weeks down to four. Separately, the Extract tool is now available to all councils, converting decades-old documents into digital data in minutes.
The announcement is part of a wider effort to use AI for Government services to modernise public services and deliver on the government's housebuilding targets.
How the prototype triages applications
The prototype, developed with Google DeepMind, Google Cloud, and Faculty, triages incoming householder applications, summarises key information, and provides planning officers with an initial assessment. Householder applications - such as extensions, loft conversions and new windows - account for nearly 70% of all planning submissions each year. Every final decision remains with a qualified planning officer. The tool handles administrative groundwork so officers can focus on more complex cases, including new housing and major developments.
Extract opens up decades of planning data
Extract, built by the Government's Incubator for AI (i.AI) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's Digital Planning programme, uses AI to read old planning documents, maps and handwritten notes, turning them into structured data. Councils currently spend an estimated 250,000 hours a year manually checking these records. Trials across 20 authorities including Exeter and Hillingdon have cut the time taken to digest documents from more than 500 hours to around 255 hours per council, freeing staff to work on complex decisions.
Rollout and government response
If the prototype is successful, it will be rolled out nationwide by 2027. Extract is now available to all local planning authorities, fulfilling a commitment made by the Prime Minister last year. Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook said the system remains "heavily reliant on cumbersome paper-based processes that consume the time of expert planning officers." He added: "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."
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."
Why this matters for Government
The two tools target the largest bottleneck in routine planning casework: the administrative burden of sifting through paper records and summarising application details. The prototype offers a 50% reduction in decision time for common applications, while Extract eliminates hundreds of hours of manual document processing per authority. Freeing officers to concentrate on larger housing projects and complex cases directly supports the government's target of 1.5 million new homes. The approach also sets a pattern for introducing digital tools into other regulated, paper-heavy public services without displacing professional judgement.
More details about the AI Incubator's work are available on the i.AI website.
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