The prime minister has announced that planning permissions will be sped up as the government rolls out a new AI tool which can scan hundreds of files in seconds.
Speaking at London Tech Week, Sir Kier Starmer announced the launch of “Extract” – an AI assistant for planning officers and local councils, developed by government with support from Google.
For the first time, this technology will help councils convert decades-old, handwritten planning documents and maps into data in minutes – and will power new types of planning software to slash the 250,000 estimated hours spent by planning officers each year manually checking these documents. The government insist that this will dramatically reduce delays that have long plagued the system.
Around 350,000 planning applications are submitted a year in England, yet the system remains heavily reliant on paper documents – some hundreds of pages long. Once submitted, each of these documents needs to be manually validated and approved by a planning officer.
In test trials across Hillingdon, Nuneaton & Bedworth, and Exeter councils, Extract digitised planning records, including maps, in just three minutes each – compared to the 1–2 hours it typically takes manually. This means Extract could process around 100 planning records a day – significantly speeding up the process.
This represents a step-change in productivity, freeing up thousands of hours for planning officers to focus on decision-making to speed up housebuilding. It will also accelerate the delivery of much-needed housing, improve reliability in the planning process and reduce costs and save time for councils and developers.
Extract is expected to be made available to all councils by Spring 2026. The government’s ambition is to fully digitise the planning system – making it faster, more transparent, and easier to navigate for working people, councils, businesses and developers.
The government hopes the rollout will help deliver its Plan for Change milestone to build 1.5 million homes over the next Parliament. It is also part of the government’s efforts to harness tech and AI to deliver change and renewal for working people.
It comes alongside the government’s wider efforts to digitise the planning system, building on an estimated £59.4m per year spent by councils on digital planning and housing software, delivering an estimated time and cost saving of £527m for the public sector each year.
The prime minister said: “For too long, our outdated planning system has held back our country— slowing down the development of vital infrastructure and making it harder to get the homes we need built.
“This government is working hand in hand with business to change that. With Extract, we’re harnessing the power of AI to help planning officers cut red tape, speed up decisions, and unlock the new homes for hard-working people as part of our Plan for Change.
“It’s a bold step forward in our mission to build 1.5 million more homes and deliver a planning system that’s fit for the 21st century.”
The government is now working with Google to develop and expand Extract to all local authorities in England using its Gemini model. The government will expand Extract to handle all planning document types with the aim of supporting local authorities to digitise all planning documents by the end of 2026.
The planning data, unlocked through Extract, will be uploaded to a publicly accessible gov.uk service page. Open, public data will ensure the planning system is more transparent, accessible and understandable to the public. The government will also explore the best and most efficient ways to deploy Extract into local authorities – this might also include developing an app to scan documents instantly.
This government is turning the page on the decline of the past and choosing growth with a significant number of planning decisions already made by Ministers since July.
This includes 18 planning decisions taken by Ministers over 85% of which within the target timeframe, and 18 nationally significant infrastructure projects approved, collectively spanning airports, data centres, solar farms and major housing developments such as the Expansion of London City Airport, a data centre in Buckinghamshire and a new M&S store in Oxford Street, London.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will also provide the powers to accelerate the infrastructure and homes needed to deliver on the government’s ambitions – and fast track critical infrastructure such as wind farms, power plants, and major road and rail projects.
Deputy prime minister and housing secretary, Angela Rayner, commented: “From day one we made an unwavering promise to use every tool at our disposal to build the 1.5 million homes and vital infrastructure through our Plan for Change that our local communities desperately need.
“By using cutting-edge technology like Extract we can fix the broken planning system, cut delays, save money, and also reduce burdens on councils to help pave the way for the biggest building boom in a generation.”
Read the orginal article: https://propertyindustryeye.com/prime-minister-unveils-ai-breakthrough-to-cut-planning-delays-and-boost-housebuilding/
