New tool turns outdated planning documents into high-quality digital data, unlocking faster decisions and supporting the government’s 1.5 million homes goal … reports Anasudhin Azeez
In a major step toward transforming England’s sluggish planning system, a new AI tool called Extract is being trialled to digitise decades’ worth of outdated planning records, offering local councils a smarter, faster route to making planning decisions and helping meet ambitious housing targets.
Backed by the government’s Incubator for AI (i.AI), part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Digital Planning Programme, the tool aims to tackle one of the biggest hurdles facing the housing sector: the continued use of paper-based records and low-quality scanned documents by many local authorities.
Currently, planners must trawl through physical files and grainy PDFs—often filled with handwritten notes or illegible maps—a task that typically takes between one to two hours per document. Extract, a generative AI system, can now complete that process in just 40 seconds, transforming murky legacy records into clear, structured digital data.
This innovation could free up valuable time for local planning officers, cut administrative backlogs, reduce human error, and ultimately speed up the application process—helping Britain get closer to the government’s Plan for Change mission to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said the UK’s housing progress had been “held back for too long by outdated paper documents and slow processes,” calling the new tool a “vital step” toward unblocking the system.
“As part of our Plan for Change, we’re using the power of AI to transform sluggish systems so we can start to rebuild,” he said. “With Extract, councils will have access to better quality data so they can move more quickly on planning decisions and get on with driving growth.”
The AI doesn’t just speed up digitisation—it extracts key location-specific data from thousands of files, creating a new layer of digital insight for planners. This data will not only streamline local decision-making but could also be used more broadly across the public sector, supporting services and informing government policies.
Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook added that local planning authorities “need to be making informed decisions faster” to unlock growth and meet housing goals.
“By harnessing new technology like Extract, we can tackle backlogs, inefficiencies and waste,” he said. “It ensures councils are focusing precious time and resources on efficiently determining applications to build new homes.”
The AI tool is currently in the testing phase and could be rolled out to councils later this year, with the aim of equipping planning departments with 21st-century tools to meet 21st-century housing demands.
The move follows a recent announcement by the Technology Secretary highlighting the potential for £45 billion in productivity savings across the public sector through better use of technology.
This AI deployment complements wider planning reforms, including an overhaul of the National Planning Policy Framework and the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill—measures projected by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to boost the UK economy by £6.8 billion and increase housebuilding to its highest level in more than four decades.
As councils prepare to adopt smarter, more efficient tools, Extract could play a pivotal role not just in clearing planning backlogs but in shaping the future of digital governance across the UK.
