UK Planning Applications Scraper & Alerts

What is UK Planning Applications Scraper & Alerts?

UK Planning Applications Scraper & Alerts gets new and decided UK planning applications and planning permission decisions from 400+ council planning registers as clean, flat rows. Filter by council, postcode + radius, keyword, decision status, application type or size, and switch on daily planning alerts that return only applications you haven't seen before.

Try it now: click Start with the default input to get the 10 most recent planning applications from across the UK in a few seconds.

• 🏗️ 400+ local planning authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in one search, via UK PlanIt
• 🔔 Alert mode (onlyNew): schedule it daily and get only new applications, by email, Slack, Google Sheets or webhook
• 📍 Postcode radius search and lat/lng on most rows, ready for maps
• 🔒 No personal names: applicant, agent and case-officer names are never collected
• ⚙️ Runs on the Apify platform: API, scheduling, integrations, monitoring, no servers

What data can you get from UK planning applications?

One row = one planning application.

Field	Example
council	Aberdeenshire
reference	APP/2026/1743
address	Steading At Hallhead Mains Craigievar Alford AB33 8LR
postcode	AB33 8LR
ward / parish	Huntly, Strathbogie And Howe Of Alford / Donside
description	Installation Of Cast Iron Wall Vents
applicationType / appType	Listed Building Consent / Heritage
appSize	Small, Medium or Large
status / appState / decision	Awaiting decision / Undecided / null
receivedDate, validatedDate, consultationEndDate, targetDecisionDate, decidedDate	2026-10-16 … 2026-12-15
nDwellings, nDocuments, nComments	null, 4, 0
applicantCompany, agentCompany	only when clearly a business, otherwise null
lat, lng	57.17027, -2.787002
councilUrl, documentsUrl, commentUrl, planitUrl	links to the council register and PlanIt

Download results as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read them via the Apify API.

Who uses UK planning data?

• 🔨 Builders, contractors and trades: find new extensions, conversions and new-build schemes in your area before the work goes out to quote
• ☀️ Solar, heat-pump and EV-charger installers: track applications mentioning solar, heat pump or battery
• 📐 Architects, planning consultants and surveyors: monitor decisions and refusals for a council or postcode
• 🏠 Estate agents, land promoters and developers: spot change of use, dwellings and large schemes early (appSize = Large)
• 🏘️ Residents, campaigners and local journalists: get a daily list of new applications near a postcode
• 📊 Analysts and proptech: build datasets of planning permission decisions by council, type and date

How to scrape UK planning applications

1. Click Try for free / Start with the default input to see a sample.
2. Set Council / planning area (e.g. Leeds, Cornwall, London, Scotland) or a postcode plus radius (km). Leave both empty for the whole UK.
3. Optionally add keywords (e.g. solar, "change of use", demolition) and filter by decision status, application type or development size.
4. Set Max results to cap cost, then click Start.
5. Export the dataset, or connect it to Google Sheets, Slack, email, Zapier, Make, n8n or a webhook.

Example input

{
  "area": "Leeds",
  "daysBack": 7,
  "keywords": ["solar", "heat pump"],
  "status": "all",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Daily planning alerts (only new applications)

Set Alert mode: only new applications (onlyNew = true). The Actor remembers returned applications in a named key-value store (stateStoreName) and on the next run outputs only applications it hasn't returned before, so you pay only for new rows. Use a different store name per saved search.

1. Run once with your filters and onlyNew: true, then Save as a new task.
2. Schedules → Create new, e.g. 0 7 * * * (07:00, Europe/London), and add the task.
3. Add an Integration (email, Slack, Google Sheets via Zapier/Make/n8n, or a webhook) on Run succeeded.

Councils publish once a day, so daily is plenty.

How much does it cost to get UK planning applications?

Pay per result: $8 per 1,000 planning applications ($0.008 per row, plus a tiny $0.00005 Actor start fee). No platform usage charges on top. maxItems caps every run.

Example	Rows	Cost
Default input (sample)	10	~$0.08
One council's week, e.g. 100 applications	100	$0.80
Daily alert averaging 20 new applications a day	~600 / month	~$4.80 / month

Speed and limits

Up to 300 applications come back in a few seconds. To respect the data source's fair-use limits, the Actor pauses ~60 seconds between each further batch of 300 (max 1,500 per run). Use alert mode or narrower filters rather than very large runs.

FAQ

Which councils are covered?

Coverage follows UK PlanIt, which aggregates 400+ council planning registers across the UK. Coverage and freshness depend on each council's register; some are occasionally stale or missing.

Does it include applicant names or addresses?

No. Applicant, agent and case-officer names are never collected, and company fields that look like private individuals are removed. Only the site address of the application is included, as published on the public register.

Why do some rows have no location?

About 9% of applications have no coordinates; some locations are postcode centroids.

What do the status values mean?

status and decision are the council's own wording, which varies. appState is a normalised version: Undecided, Permitted, Conditions, Rejected, Withdrawn, Referred, Unresolved or Other.

Can I use this with the API, Python or an AI agent?

Yes. Every run is available through the Apify API and clients (Python, JavaScript) and through the Apify MCP server for AI agents.

Is it legal to scrape planning applications?

Planning registers are public by law. If you contact anyone using this data, comply with UK GDPR and PECR. Plans and drawings linked from council sites are protected by copyright (CDPA 1988 s.47): view them there, don't republish. Not affiliated with UK PlanIt or any council. Data courtesy of UK PlanIt (planit.org.uk); please consider supporting it.

Related UK data Actors by Komos Solutions

• 🏛️ UK Government Tenders & Contracts Scraper: public-sector tenders and contract awards from Contracts Finder, with daily tender alerts.
• 🌐 UK Company Website Enricher: emails, phones, Companies House number and VAT number from a list of company websites.

More UK data tools: komossolutions.com/data-tools. Questions or a council missing? Open an issue on the Issues tab.