UK Planning Scraper [$5/1k💰] | Council Applications & Leads

UK Planning Scraper - Council Applications, Decisions and Development Leads

The UK Planning Scraper collects public UK planning applications from council portals. Use the nationwide PlanIt aggregator for a broad sweep across roughly 417 authorities, or connect directly to a single Idox PublicAccess portal for deeper detail and documents. Output includes the reference, address, proposal, status, decision, important dates, applicant and agent fields, ward, parish, coordinates and document count.

Use it for pre-market development leads, construction and supplier prospecting, planning trend research, land tracking and local-government monitoring. Applications go to the default dataset, and an optional documents dataset keeps each document as its own row.

Main Use Cases for UK Planning Applications

• Pre-market development leads - find new applications before construction begins and before contractors are appointed.
• Construction and supplier prospecting - route solar, extension, conversion and commercial projects to relevant suppliers.
• Planning trend research - measure application types, sizes and outcomes across councils and time.
• Land and competitor tracking - monitor named applicants, agents, wards or postcodes for new activity.
• Local-government monitoring - follow statuses, consultation deadlines and decisions for a council area.
• Solar and retrofit research - search proposals for solar panels, heat pumps, extensions and similar work.
• Development dashboards - map applications by coordinates and feed status changes into a BI tool.

How It Works

Choose source as idox for a single council portal or planit for the nationwide aggregator. Idox requires portalUrl and supports deep filters for case type, status, decision, dates, address, proposal, applicant, agent, ward, parish and reference. PlanIt supports authority lists, keyword searches, application type, state, size and recent-date filters.

In PlanIt mode the Actor queries the aggregator once per authority and keyword combination, deduplicates records and pages through results in batches of 200. In Idox mode it establishes a portal session, collects paginated search results, then opens each application detail page for the deepest available fields.

Every application row uses the same output shape regardless of source. Empty strings are preserved when a council or aggregator does not publish a field. documentCount is always present, while the documents themselves are written to a separate dataset only when includeDocuments is enabled.

Free users receive at most 10 applications. Paid runs can raise maxItems up to 5,000, with a default of 1,000. maxConcurrency controls parallel detail requests. Large nationwide searches benefit from a proxy and from narrowing the authority, keyword and date filters so the query stays focused.

PlanIt is the fastest way to cover many councils, but it is an aggregator and may not expose every Idox field. Idox is deeper for one council and is the better choice when applicant, agent or document data matters. Coverage and field completeness vary by council, and a status can change after the observation.

Input

Use PlanIt for nationwide or multi-council discovery, or Idox for one council where you need the fullest application detail.

Field	Type	Required	Default	What it does
source	string	No	idox	Data source: idox for one council portal or planit for the nationwide aggregator.
portalUrl	string	No	Empty	Idox portal base URL. Required when source is idox.
councilName	string	No	Empty	Optional label added to Idox rows.
authorities	array	No	Empty	PlanIt council names. Empty means all authorities.
searchQueries	array	No	Empty	PlanIt free-text keywords such as solar, extension or wind turbine.
appType	string	No	Empty	PlanIt application type filter such as Full, Outline, Conditions or Heritage.
appState	string	No	Empty	PlanIt state filter such as Undecided, Permitted or Rejected.
recentDays	integer	No	Empty	PlanIt fast path for applications validated in the last N days.
startDate	string	No	Empty	PlanIt validated-from date in YYYY-MM-DD format.
endDate	string	No	Empty	PlanIt validated-to date in YYYY-MM-DD format.
maxItems	integer	No	1000	Maximum applications saved. Free users are capped at 10 and paid runs at 5000.
maxConcurrency	integer	No	10	Parallel application and detail requests.
includeDocuments	boolean	No	false	Write each document to a separate dataset and charge a document event.
proxy	object	No	No proxy	Optional Apify Proxy settings for large nationwide runs.

For a first run, choose PlanIt, one keyword and a narrow recentDays window. For a single council, switch to Idox and provide its PublicAccess base URL. Enable includeDocuments only when you need document rows, because each document has its own event charge.

Output

The default dataset contains one application per row. Documents are optional and live in a separate dataset joined by council and reference.

Field group	Fields	What you get
Application identity	source, council, portalUrl, reference, url	Source, council name, portal URL, application reference and public application URL.
Proposal	address, postcode, proposal, applicationType, appSize	Site address, postcode, proposal text, application type and size band.
Status	status, decision, appState, applicationValidated, decisionIssuedDate, decisionMadeDate, determinationDeadline, appealStatus, appealDecision	Current and historical status, decision and date fields.
People	applicantName, agentName, agentCompanyName, agentAddress	Public applicant and agent details when the council publishes them.
Location	ward, parish, lat, lng	Administrative area and coordinates for mapping.
Documents	documentCount plus separate dataset fields	Number of documents on the application and optional document rows with type, description, date and URL.

Applicant, agent, decision and document fields are often blank because councils publish different amounts of detail and PlanIt normalizes across sources. reference is unique within a council, not globally, so use council plus reference as the key. A later run may show a changed status or decision for the same application.

Pricing

Pricing is pay-per-event. A small start event is charged per run, each saved application is a result, and each saved document has its own event.

Event	FREE	BRONZE	SILVER	GOLD+
Actor start, per run	$0.00005	$0.00005	$0.00005	$0.00005
Application result	$0.005	$0.0049	$0.0048	$0.0047
Document	$0.005	$0.005	$0.005	$0.005

Applications cost $5.00 per 1,000 on FREE, falling to $4.70 per 1,000 on GOLD and higher. Documents cost $5.00 per 1,000 and are charged only when includeDocuments is enabled and rows are saved. The free preview is capped at 10 applications.

Example Input

{
  "source": "planit",
  "authorities": [],
  "searchQueries": ["solar"],
  "recentDays": 30,
  "maxItems": 3,
  "maxConcurrency": 3,
  "includeDocuments": false,
  "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": false }
}

This sweeps all PlanIt authorities for solar applications validated in the last 30 days and keeps three rows. Add authorities to narrow the sweep or switch to Idox for one council.

Example Output

{
  "source": "planit",
  "council": "Wiltshire",
  "portalUrl": "https://development.wiltshire.gov.uk/pr/s/planning-application/a0iQ300000OwqejIAB",
  "reference": "PL/2026/06666",
  "address": "Sunnyside, Chandlers Lane, Bishops Cannings, Devizes, SN10 2JU",
  "postcode": "SN10 2JU",
  "proposal": "Erection of nine solar panels to flat roof garage",
  "status": "Under Consultation",
  "decision": "Undecided",
  "applicationValidated": "2026-10-26",
  "applicationType": "Householder planning permission",
  "ward": "Urchfont & Bishops Cannings ED",
  "parish": "Bishops Cannings CP",
  "determinationDeadline": "2026-12-21",
  "appSize": "Small",
  "appState": "Undecided",
  "lat": 51.374512,
  "lng": -1.947972,
  "documentCount": 17,
  "url": "https://development.wiltshire.gov.uk/pr/s/planning-application/a0iQ300000OwqejIAB"
}

This is a real PlanIt test record. Applicant and agent fields are omitted because they were empty in the source. The application had 17 documents, but no document rows were saved because includeDocuments was false.

Integrations and Automation

Run the Actor from the Apify API, Apify MCP, a scheduled task, Zapier, Make, n8n or your own service. Export JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or push rows to Google Sheets, Airtable, a CRM, a mapping tool, a BI warehouse or a webhook.

Use council plus reference as the stable key. Keep source because PlanIt and Idox rows can describe the same application with different field completeness. Join the optional documents dataset on council and reference, and filter on status, decision or appState for active opportunities.

For daily monitoring, schedule a PlanIt run with recentDays set to a small window and compare new references, statuses and decisions between snapshots. Use coordinates for territory maps and keep the public application URL for case review.

Related Actors

• BuildZoom Scraper - US contractor and permit data for construction lead research.
• Rightmove Scraper - UK property listings, sold prices and agent data.
• Zoopla Scraper - UK property market data for development and land research.

FAQ

Do I need a council account?

No. The Actor reads public planning application pages and the PlanIt aggregator without logging in.

What is the difference between Idox and PlanIt?

Idox connects to one council portal and exposes the deepest fields, including documents. PlanIt covers many councils through an aggregator and is faster for broad sweeps.

Why is portalUrl required?

It is required only for Idox mode, because the Actor needs the council PublicAccess base URL. PlanIt does not use it.

Why are applicant or agent fields empty?

Councils publish different amounts of detail, and the aggregator may not carry every field. Empty values are not inferred.

Are documents included by default?

No. Set includeDocuments to true to write a separate documents dataset. Each document row has its own event charge.

Is there a free preview cap?

Yes. Free users can save at most 10 applications per run. Paid runs can raise maxItems up to 5000.

For AI Agents and LLM Apps

The Actor returns public UK planning applications with status, decision, location and optional document rows, suitable for development research and lead routing.

• One row in the default dataset represents one planning application. Use council plus reference as the key.
• source matters: Idox rows are deeper for one council, while PlanIt rows are normalized across many authorities.
• Applicant, agent, decision and date fields can be empty strings. Missing public data is not evidence that a field does not exist.
• Documents are not embedded in the application row. When enabled, they are a separate dataset joined on council and reference.
• The free preview is limited to 10 applications; application and document events are billed separately.

Legal and Compliance

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by PlanIt, Idox or any UK council. It reads publicly visible planning data for legitimate research and development analysis. The source terms and applicable law still apply.

Planning records can include personal data such as applicant or agent names and addresses. Use the data for a lawful purpose, keep a documented basis where required, honor deletion and opt-out requests, and do not use it for harassment or discriminatory purposes. Always verify a decision against the official council record.

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