UK Planning Applications Scraper: London & Idox Councils

Get new UK planning applications (London plus supported Idox council portals) as structured data with keyword filters and new-application alerts.

Who it's for

• Builders, architects and trades looking for extension, loft and new-build leads
• Property investors and developers watching what is proposed near a site
• Solar, HMO and planning consultants tracking applications by keyword

Sample output

council	reference	address	proposal	validatedDate
Bexley (London)	25/01657/FULM03	Ikra Mulberry Way Belvedere Kent DA17 6AN	Application to approve details of conditions 8 (LEMP)8 an...	2026-10-22
Bexley (London)	26/01914/FUL	85 Downbank Avenue DA7 6RT	Application under Section 73 of the Town and Country Plan...	2026-10-22
Richmond (London)	PA26/3487	19 Cranmer Road Hampton Hill TW12 1DW	19 Cranmer Road Permitted Development	2026-10-19

Real rows from a test run (shortened; the full output has more fields).

Price per 1,000 results

Main event: application-row at $0.003 each, so 1,000 results = $3.00. Other events: new-application $0.008 each (only charged when that row type is output). See the Pricing tab for the current prices.

Input example

{
  "mode": "search",
  "councils": [
    "Hackney",
    "Camden",
    "rutland"
  ],
  "keywords": [
    "extension"
  ],
  "maxPerCouncil": 20
}

Get new UK planning applications as clean, structured data: reference, address, postcode, proposal, status, validated and decision dates, decision, application type, ward, coordinates and a link to the council's planning portal. You can filter by keyword (extension, loft, change of use, HMO, solar, demolition...) and date range. New since last run mode returns only applications you haven't seen yet, so it works as a daily lead feed.

Builders, architects, loft and extension firms, solar installers, surveyors, property investors and proptech teams use it to find homeowners and developers right after they apply for planning permission.

Supported councils

Source	Councils	Notes
Planning London Datahub (Greater London Authority, official public API)	All 35 London planning authorities: Barking & Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, City of London, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster, OPDC, OSDC	Updated daily by the boroughs. Has no applicant or agent names. Some boroughs (e.g. Bromley, Ealing) send very few records.
Idox Public Access portals	Rutland (verified)	Includes applicant, agent and case officer from the public "Further information" tab.

You can name any other Idox Public Access council (about 220 are built in, e.g. doncaster, south_kesteven). Before searching, the actor reads that council's robots.txt and skips the council if crawling is disallowed or a bot challenge appears. Most English Idox councils currently disallow crawling, so expect those councils to come back as skipped. Run mode: check_councils to see live status. That check is free and gives one row per council.

Input shortcuts: london covers all London authorities, and all covers every supported council.

Input

• mode: one of
  • search: every match in the date range.
  • new_applications: only applications not seen in earlier runs that used the same monitorName.
  • check_councils: a free support check.
• councils: names or keys, london or all.
• dateType: validated (default), received or decision.
• daysBack, or startDate and endDate.
• keywords: matched against the proposal text. Any keyword counts as a match. Leave empty to get everything.
• maxPerCouncil and maxItems: limits.
• includeDetails (Idox only): fetch applicant, agent, decision and case officer.

{"mode": "new_applications", "monitorName": "london-lofts", "councils": ["london"], "daysBack": 7, "keywords": ["loft", "dormer", "rear extension"], "maxPerCouncil": 100}

Output example

{"council": "Hackney (London)", "reference": "2026/2195", "address": "120 First Floor Flat GREEN LANES HACKNEY N16 9EH", "postcode": "N16 9EH",
 "proposal": "Erection of a first-floor rear extension.", "status": "Application Under Consideration", "validatedDate": "2026-10-13",
 "decision": null, "applicationType": "All Other", "ward": "Clissold Ward", "uprn": "100021045155", "latitude": 51.555, "longitude": -0.0893,
 "portalUrl": "https://developmentandhousing.hackney.gov.uk//planning/index.html?fa=getApplication&id=86389", "matchedKeyword": "extension"}

Every run also saves a RUN_SUMMARY record in the key-value store, with the status of each council.

Pricing (pay per event)

Event	Price
application-row: an application returned in search mode, or in the first (baseline) monitor run	$0.003
new-application: an application not seen in earlier runs (monitor mode)	$0.008

Example: 1,000 London applications cost $3.00. A daily London extension monitor that finds about 50 new applications a day costs about $0.40 a day.

Responsible use, data and legal notes

• Public data only. No logins and no CAPTCHA or bot-challenge bypassing. robots.txt is respected, including Crawl-delay. Requests are rate-limited (1 request per second per Idox council by default). The actor identifies itself honestly in its user agent.
• Planning London Datahub data is provided by the Greater London Authority and the London boroughs. The Greater London Authority cannot warrant the quality or accuracy of the data. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by the GLA, the Mayor of London or any council.
• Personal data. Applicant and agent names on Idox portals are personal data under UK GDPR. If you use them for marketing, you need a lawful basis, must follow PECR rules for electronic marketing, and must respect opt-outs. Letters to the site address are the usual low-risk approach. Council portals' own terms may limit reuse of some content, such as plans and documents. This actor collects only register fields, not documents.

FAQ

Why are some councils skipped? Their robots.txt disallows automated access, or they show a bot challenge. We don't work around either.

How fresh is the data? London Datahub is updated daily. Idox portals are live.

Can I add my council? If it uses Idox Public Access and allows crawling, just name it. Otherwise open an issue on the actor page.

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