Building permits and planning data
Permits and planning applications are an early signal of development and change. This guide covers building permit and planning data and how to source it.
Why permit data matters
Planning applications and permits reveal what will be built or changed before it happens, valuable for development, retail, infrastructure and risk. They are a leading indicator of physical change.
The data landscape
- Applications: proposed developments.
- Decisions: approvals and refusals.
- Conditions: requirements attached.
- Attributes: type, size and location.
Common use cases
Development and site monitoring, sales and supply leads, retail and infrastructure planning, and risk and due diligence.
Sourcing considerations
Planning data is held by many local authorities with varied systems and formats, so harmonisation and geocoding are central. Coverage and timeliness vary, and some data is personal.
Delivery and governance
Monitoring wants frequent updates; analysis uses batches. Personal data within applications needs care, and provenance matters.
In a managed model
A managed partner can consolidate planning data across authorities into a harmonised, geocoded dataset.
Fragmented across authorities
Planning and permit data is held by many local authorities with different systems and formats, so harmonisation and geocoding are the core work of turning it into a usable dataset. As a leading indicator of physical change, it is valuable for development, retail, infrastructure and risk, but coverage and timeliness vary, and applications can contain personal data requiring care.
From application to insight
The value comes from consolidating applications, decisions and conditions across authorities, geocoding them to a consistent reference, and tracking changes over time. Frequent updates suit monitoring; batches suit analysis. Documented provenance keeps the data credible for due diligence and market work.
- Permits and applications signal physical change early.
- Combine applications, decisions, conditions and attributes.
- Data is fragmented across authorities; harmonise and geocode.
- Handle personal data in applications with care.
Sources & further reading
- National and local planning registers.
- Eurostat: building-permits statistics.
- EU INSPIRE: planning data themes.
- EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR).
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