DLUHC's Planning Data Platform Beta Goes Live

In a bid to improve the way housing data is accessed, the digital planning team in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has unveiled the beta version of its Planning Data Platform. Quadrant highlights what the beta version plans to achieve.

The DLUHC have deployed the beta version of the Planning Data Platform to make land and housing data easier to find and use in order to support decision making.

While still in development, the DLUHC is working with a group of local authorities to collect data according to the standards and encouraging organisations to provide feedback on the service.

Despite having the beta launched, the data is not yet fully complete, and legislation to mandate the underlying standards is still in parliament.

Improving Standards Is The Core Focus

Ensuring standards are met across multiple aspects of the DLUHCs remit, the beta will work on the standards on conservation areas, listed buildings, Article 4 directions and tree preservation areas.

Developing further, the next stage will help deal with local planning, applications, design codes and decisions.

With local authorities all over the country involved in the beta, the DLUHC will be expecting lots of feedback on how it works for different parts of the country. The councils currently involved are Bolsover, North East Derbyshire, Buckinghamshire, Camden, Dacorum, Doncaster, Gloucester, Lambeth, Medway, Newcastle and Southwark.

The data is currently only available in text format and as a national map. The Back Office Planning System and Reduce Invalid Planning Applications are the two national services using the platform.

Once the platform is developed further post-beta, there are plans to make the information downloadable as a dataset, with real-time changes being recorded on the platform to keep it up-to-date.

Additionally, there are hopes for the publication of a tool that gives local authorities feedback on the data they provide.