Planning Permission UK Scraper

Search the official UK Planning Data API for structured planning applications and planning constraints. The actor is designed for planning consultants, property researchers, developers, solicitors, journalists, and AI agents that need public planning records in a stable JSON shape.

What it does

The actor queries the public planning.data.gov.uk entity API and stores one normalized record per result. The default dataset is planning-application, but you can also request datasets such as listed-building, conservation-area, green-belt, flood-risk-zone, article-4-direction-area, or tree-preservation-zone.

The API currently provides England-focused coverage. Local planning authorities are not yet required to publish application data to the national specification, so coverage varies by authority. The actor preserves the official source URL and any council documentation URL so results can be audited.

When to use it

• Find recent planning applications from a date range.
• Search applications or constraints around a postcode, UPRN, latitude/longitude point, or WKT polygon.
• Filter applications to a local planning authority entity or planning reference.
• Collect public decision, proposal, address, authority, and council portal links for property research.
• Feed typed planning records into an AI workflow, dashboard, CRM, or data warehouse.

Do not use this actor as a substitute for a local authority planning search, title investigation, environmental assessment, or legal advice. An empty result does not prove that no planning constraint or application exists.

Input

The default input is intentionally runnable:

{
  "datasets": ["planning-application"],
  "startDate": "2025-05-01",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Important fields:

Field	Purpose
datasets	Official dataset slugs. Defaults to planning-application.
postcodeOrUprn	Search a UK postcode or UPRN, for example BN15 0EE or 10008315764.
reference	Match an authority reference such as AWDM/0550/25.
organisationEntity	Restrict results to an LPA entity ID, such as 626195.
latitude, longitude	Search around a WGS84 point. Supply both.
geometryWkt	Search a custom WGS84 WKT geometry.
geometryRelation	Spatial relation such as intersects or within.
startDate, endDate	ISO dates used for entity start-date filtering.
maxResults	Maximum records and result charges, from 1 to 1,000.
responseFormat	concise omits geometry WKT; detailed retains it.

For constraint screening around a location:

{
  "datasets": ["listed-building", "conservation-area", "green-belt"],
  "postcodeOrUprn": "SW1A 1AA",
  "maxResults": 50
}

For an application monitor:

{
  "datasets": ["planning-application"],
  "startDate": "2025-05-01",
  "endDate": "2025-09-30",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Output

Each dataset item contains stable, agent-friendly fields:

Field	Description
recordType	planning-application, planning-constraint, or planning-entity.
entityId, dataset, reference	Official identity and dataset metadata.
description, address	Proposal or source description and address text.
startDate, decisionDate, planningDecision	Key application dates and decision outcome where supplied.
organisationEntity	Source planning authority entity ID where supplied.
documentationUrl	Direct council/source record link where supplied.
sourceUrl	Exact Planning Data API page used.
warnings	Non-fatal source coverage or missing-field notes.

The OUTPUT key-value record contains the result count, API request and page counts, total available count when provided, event charges, source datasets, and warnings.

Pricing

The actor charges:

• $0.00005 for the actor-start event.
• $0.005 per schema-valid planning record stored.

The maximum result charge is visible in the run status before records are requested. maxResults is a hard output and billing guard. Apify compute and proxy usage pricing may also apply according to the selected billing model.

API and MCP use

The actor can be called through the Apify API or Apify MCP. A useful agent prompt is: “Find planning applications submitted since 2025-05-01 around BN15 0EE and return the council links.” The response is already shaped for retrieval and downstream filtering without exposing opaque source payloads.

Reliability and limits

The implementation uses the public JSON API, bounded retries, polite pagination delays, and a 100-page ceiling. It does not bypass login walls, CAPTCHAs, or access controls. The national planning application specification is still evolving and data is incomplete in some areas; inspect warnings, sourceUrl, and documentationUrl before relying on a record.

If the source returns no matches, the actor completes with an empty dataset and a warning-level status. If every API request fails, the actor fails with an actionable run error so infrastructure or source outages are not mistaken for a genuine empty search.

Legal and attribution notice

This is an independent data-access tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the UK Government, MHCLG, Planning Data, or any local planning authority. The source dataset is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0 where stated by the source. You are responsible for complying with source terms, licence conditions, privacy law, and applicable planning or professional requirements.