Govt develops AI tool to digitise planning records

The government is developing an AI tool to digitise planning records and “help councils meet housing targets”, turning long tasks into a process completed within 40 seconds, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

MHCLG said the tool could be used to increase the availability of high-quality planning data, allowing local authorities to make more informed planning decisions faster.

The government’s Incubator for AI (i.AI), part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), is working with MHCLG’s digital planning programme to develop AI that could significantly reduce the time needed to convert old planning documents – “poor scans” of old, PDF and paper documents including handwritten notes - into digital records.

According to the government departments, the tool, currently in early testing and potentially available to councils later this year, could perform in 40 seconds “what typically takes 1-2 hours of planners’ time to complete”.

MHCLG explained that the tool would pull key information from “thousands of files”, to create machine-readable, sharable data. This would also reduce data errors and accelerate planning decisions – “freeing up planners’ time to focus on building the homes Britain needs”.