# UK Planning Applications Lead Finder (`dazrave/uk-planning-leads`) Actor Find recent UK planning applications that look useful for trades, kitchens, extensions and renovation lead generation. Returns scored lead records with reasons from verified council portals. - **URL**: https://apify.com/dazrave/uk-planning-leads.md - **Developed by:** [Darren Ravenscroft](https://apify.com/dazrave) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation, Business, Marketing - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $20.00 / 1,000 planning application leads This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## UK Planning Applications Lead Finder (Apify actor) Finds **public UK planning applications** that look useful for trades, kitchens, extensions and renovation lead generation. The actor searches supported council planning portals, normalises each result, then adds a relevance score and plain-English reasons such as `extension`, `single-storey extension`, `kitchen`, `renovation` or `loft conversion`. Use it to build a weekly prospecting list for kitchen fitters, builders, architectural services, glazing, roofing, landscaping and other home-improvement businesses. ### What you get Each dataset row includes: `leadId, councilId, councilName, sourceUrl, applicationRef, address, proposal, status, submittedDate, decisionDate, applicantName, relevanceScore, relevanceReasons, matchedKeywords, category, scrapedAt` Typical result: - council: Bury Council - proposal: `Single storey rear extension` - category: `extension` - relevance score: `6` - reasons: matched `extension` and `single-storey extension` ### Current coverage Default input uses `councilSelection: ["north-west-pack"]`, focused on Daz's North West lead-gen area. Verified active councils currently include: - Bury - Trafford - Stockport - Wigan - Knowsley - St Helens - Cheshire West and Chester - Lancaster - Blackpool `midlands-pack` is also available for Warwick, Solihull, Wolverhampton and Bromsgrove/Redditch. ### Supported portal styles | `portalType` | What it is | Search | Parsing | |---|---|---|---| | `idox` | Idox PublicAccess (`/online-applications/`, `.do` endpoints) — the most common UK portal | GET `advancedSearchResults.do` with keyword + validated date range | result cards (`li.searchresult`), pagination via the `next` pager link | | `searchresults-aspx` | Legacy ASP.NET portals with `SearchResults.aspx`-style result tables | GET with configurable query param names (`aspxParams` per council) | result tables, columns matched by header text | ### Output schema (dataset records) `leadId, councilId, councilName, sourceUrl, applicationRef, address, proposal, status, submittedDate, decisionDate, applicantName, relevanceScore, relevanceReasons, matchedKeywords, category, scrapedAt` - Dates are normalized to `YYYY-MM-DD`. - `applicantName` is only filled where the portal publishes it on the results page (Idox shows it only on detail pages, so it is `null` for Idox in this MVP). - `category` is one of `kitchen, extension, loft, conversion, renovation, new-build, other`. - `relevanceScore` combines your input keywords (+2 each) with built-in trade signals (kitchen +5, extensions +3–4, refurb/renovation +3, …) and negative signals (tree works, adverts, telecoms −5) so junk can be filtered with `minRelevanceScore`. `relevanceReasons` explains every point. ### Running on Apify Use the default North West preset for a quick run, or select specific council IDs in `councilSelection`. Keep `sendKeywordToPortal` off unless you deliberately want a narrow exact search; the default date-range search catches more relevant applications and filters locally. Recommended starter input: ```json { "councilSelection": ["north-west-pack"], "keywords": ["kitchen", "extension", "refurbishment", "alterations"], "minRelevanceScore": 1, "maxPagesPerCouncil": 2, "maxConcurrency": 1, "requestDelaySecs": 5, "sendKeywordToPortal": false } ```` Legacy inputs such as `councils: ["bury"]` and `councilPreset: "north-west-pack"` are also accepted to avoid brittle buyer-facing failures. ### Local run ```bash npm install npm test # offline — fixtures only, no network npm run check:councils # live compatibility matrix, writes AVAILABILITY.md apify run # local Apify-style run using src/sampleInput.json npm start # same actor entrypoint without the CLI wrapper npm run smoke # optional: one polite live request to the first active sample council ``` Results land in `./storage/datasets/default/*.json`. To run with your own input locally, create `./storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json` matching `.actor/input_schema.json`, or edit `src/sampleInput.json`. ### Politeness / rate limiting Defaults are deliberately conservative and configurable via input: `maxConcurrency: 1`, `requestDelaySecs: 5` between requests to the same council, `maxPagesPerCouncil: 3`, 1 retry, and an identifying user agent. Please keep them low — council portals are small public services. ### Publishing / monetisation notes The actor is designed to run as a small paid utility on Apify. Good first-public positioning: - title: `UK Planning Applications Lead Finder` - audience: trades, kitchen firms, builders, renovators and local lead-gen teams - promise: `Find recent planning applications likely to indicate upcoming home-improvement work` - pricing: start with Apify usage-based pricing while coverage is still growing - caveat: it is not a marketing-compliance tool; users remain responsible for lawful basis, council terms, and opt-outs ### Legal & privacy caution - Planning registers are public, but **check each council's terms of use and robots.txt** before scraping, and keep request rates minimal. - Records contain **personal data** (addresses, sometimes applicant names). Under UK GDPR you need a lawful basis (likely legitimate interests) to process them for marketing; run and document an LIA before contacting anyone. - Direct mail to addresses from the register is generally lower-risk than calls/emails; screen against mail preference services and honour opt-outs. - Do not resell raw register data; some councils assert database rights. - Applicant/agent details published on portals must not be used contrary to the council's stated purpose notices. ### Pilot councils & next ones to add Sample input uses `councilSelection: ["north-west-pack"]`, which expands to every active North West council in `src/councils.js`. Current verified active North West councils are Bury, Trafford, Stockport, Wigan, Knowsley, St Helens, Cheshire West and Chester, Lancaster, and Blackpool; `midlands-pack` remains available for Warwick/Solihull/Wolverhampton/Bromsgrove-Redditch. `npm run check:councils` writes the latest live matrix to `AVAILABILITY.md`. Council portal URLs change often — verify the base URL loads before relying on it. Good next candidates (all Idox PublicAccess at the time of writing): - **South Kesteven / Boston / East Lindsey** (Lincolnshire cluster) - **Maidstone, Medway, Canterbury** (Kent) - **Trafford, Stockport, Bolton** (Greater Manchester) - Councils on Northgate/Planning Explorer or custom portals need either a new `portalType` parser or per-council `aspxParams` mapping — the header-matching table parser (`parseAspxSearchResults`) is the starting point. To add a council: append `{ name, portalType, baseUrl }` to the input (or `src/sampleInput.json`), run `npm run smoke`-style single fetch to confirm the markup parses, and add a fixture + test if the markup differs. ### Project layout ``` .actor/ actor.json + input_schema.json (Apify metadata) src/main.js entrypoint: input → crawl → score → dataset src/scraper.js URL builders + HTML parsers (Idox, ASPX table) src/leadScoring.js keyword/relevance scoring + categorisation src/sampleInput.json fallback input for local dev test/ offline tests + HTML fixtures (node --test) scripts/smoke.js optional single live fetch, non-fatal offline ``` # Actor input Schema ## `councilSelection` (type: `array`): Use north-west-pack for Daz's current focus area, midlands-pack for the earlier Midlands set, or choose individual council IDs. Active North West IDs currently include bury, trafford, stockport, wigan, knowsley, st-helens, cheshire-west, lancaster, blackpool. ## `customCouncils` (type: `array`): Optional custom council objects: { id, name, portalType: 'idox' | 'searchresults-aspx', baseUrl }. Use for testing extra portals before adding them to the registry. ## `keywords` (type: `array`): Keywords used for local relevance scoring. By default the actor searches by date range then scores locally, which catches more applications than exact-phrase portal search. ## `dateFrom` (type: `string`): Start of the validated/received date range. Defaults to 14 days ago. ## `dateTo` (type: `string`): End of the validated/received date range. Defaults to today. ## `minRelevanceScore` (type: `integer`): Leads scoring below this are dropped. 0 keeps everything. ## `maxPagesPerCouncil` (type: `integer`): Politeness cap on paginated search results per council. ## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`): Keep low to be polite to council servers. ## `requestDelaySecs` (type: `integer`): Polite delay between requests sent to the same council portal. ## `sendKeywordToPortal` (type: `boolean`): When false, searches by date range then scores/filter locally. This avoids exact-phrase portal searches missing relevant applications. ## Actor input object example ```json { "councilSelection": [ "north-west-pack" ], "customCouncils": [], "keywords": [ "kitchen", "extension", "refurbishment", "alterations" ], "minRelevanceScore": 1, "maxPagesPerCouncil": 3, "maxConcurrency": 1, "requestDelaySecs": 5, "sendKeywordToPortal": false } ``` # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "councilSelection": [ "north-west-pack" ], "customCouncils": [], "keywords": [ "kitchen", "extension", "refurbishment", "alterations" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("dazrave/uk-planning-leads").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "councilSelection": ["north-west-pack"], "customCouncils": [], "keywords": [ "kitchen", "extension", "refurbishment", "alterations", ], } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("dazrave/uk-planning-leads").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "councilSelection": [ "north-west-pack" ], "customCouncils": [], "keywords": [ "kitchen", "extension", "refurbishment", "alterations" ] }' | apify call dazrave/uk-planning-leads --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=dazrave/uk-planning-leads", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "UK Planning Applications Lead Finder", "description": "Find recent UK planning applications that look useful for trades, kitchens, extensions and renovation lead generation. Returns scored lead records with reasons from verified council portals.", "version": "0.2", "x-build-id": "hTLJlfO01rxaTca4o" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/dazrave~uk-planning-leads/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-dazrave-uk-planning-leads", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/dazrave~uk-planning-leads/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-dazrave-uk-planning-leads", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/dazrave~uk-planning-leads/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-dazrave-uk-planning-leads", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "councilSelection": { "title": "Councils to run", "type": "array", "description": "Use north-west-pack for Daz's current focus area, midlands-pack for the earlier Midlands set, or choose individual council IDs. Active North West IDs currently include bury, trafford, stockport, wigan, knowsley, st-helens, cheshire-west, lancaster, blackpool.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "customCouncils": { "title": "Custom councils", "type": "array", "description": "Optional custom council objects: { id, name, portalType: 'idox' | 'searchresults-aspx', baseUrl }. Use for testing extra portals before adding them to the registry." }, "keywords": { "title": "Lead keywords", "type": "array", "description": "Keywords used for local relevance scoring. By default the actor searches by date range then scores locally, which catches more applications than exact-phrase portal search.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "dateFrom": { "title": "Applications validated from (YYYY-MM-DD)", "type": "string", "description": "Start of the validated/received date range. Defaults to 14 days ago." }, "dateTo": { "title": "Applications validated to (YYYY-MM-DD)", "type": "string", "description": "End of the validated/received date range. Defaults to today." }, "minRelevanceScore": { "title": "Minimum relevance score", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Leads scoring below this are dropped. 0 keeps everything.", "default": 1 }, "maxPagesPerCouncil": { "title": "Max result pages per council", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 20, "type": "integer", "description": "Politeness cap on paginated search results per council.", "default": 3 }, "maxConcurrency": { "title": "Max concurrency", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 3, "type": "integer", "description": "Keep low to be polite to council servers.", "default": 1 }, "requestDelaySecs": { "title": "Delay between requests to the same council (seconds)", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 60, "type": "integer", "description": "Polite delay between requests sent to the same council portal.", "default": 5 }, "sendKeywordToPortal": { "title": "Send first keyword to portal search", "type": "boolean", "description": "When false, searches by date range then scores/filter locally. This avoids exact-phrase portal searches missing relevant applications.", "default": false } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```