UK Planning Applications & Site Constraints (Planning Data)

Read the official UK Planning Data platform (planning.data.gov.uk, run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government) as flat rows. Two jobs in one actor: the planning-application register — council reference, site address and postcode, coordinates, the proposal text, the decision and its date, a link to the council's own file where the council publishes one — and a site constraint check: which designations cover a coordinate (conservation area, article 4 direction, listed building outline, tree preservation zone, flood risk zone, green belt and eight more layers).

Filter by council, by a circle around a coordinate, by keyword, by decision wording, by decision date or by reference. Every date is a UTC calendar date, every row links back to the record it came from. No API key, no proxy, no browser, no council portal is touched.

Application coverage is partial and the platform says so itself — read Coverage before you plan a project around it. Designation layers are national.

Use cases

• Planning history of a site (surveyors, developers, architects): every application within 300 m–2 km of a coordinate, with the proposal, the decision and the date, as the evidence base for a new application.
• Appeal and refusal research (planning consultants): one council filtered to decisionContains: "refus", newest decision first, to build a precedent list of what was turned down and why it was proposed.
• Lead pipelines for trades and suppliers: approved works that mention solar, heat pump, loft conversion or basement, each with the site address and, for Adur and Worthing, a direct link to the council's application file.
• Local reporting and analysis: one authority and one year (decisionDateFrom / decisionDateTo) as a spreadsheet — the raw material for "how many extensions were refused in 2023".
• Site constraint checks before buying or extending (owners, conveyancers, solar installers): mode: "constraints" with radiusMeters: 0 answers "is this spot inside a conservation area, an article 4 direction or a flood risk zone", each answer with the designation's name, reference, publishing authority and a GeoJSON boundary link.
• Heritage screening (heritage consultants, retrofit assessors): listed building outlines and conservation areas within a radius of an address, to see what sits around a site and not only on it.
• Keeping a copy in sync: onlyNew: true in a scheduled task writes only records the task has not delivered before, so a warehouse table grows by the batch the platform publishes.

Coverage

The designation datasets are national and maintained: at the time of writing the flood-risk-zone layer alone held 780,636 rows, and an article 4 row at the test coordinate carried a register date of 2026-08-10.

The planning-application register is not national. The platform marks it "incomplete and not yet ready for use", and it is a snapshot republished in batches, not a live feed. Counted on 2026-09-19 it held 100,627 applications from four authorities:

Council	Short code	Organisation entity	Rows	Site address	Coordinates	Received date	Decision wording	Council file link
London Borough of Camden	CMD	90	77,499	yes	yes	no	in decisionType (Granted, Refused, …)	no
Worthing Borough Council	WOT	382	13,629	yes	yes	yes	decision (Approve) + decisionType (Delegated)	yes
Adur District Council	ADU	26	7,585	yes	yes	yes	decision + decisionType	yes
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council	DNC	109	1,914	no	no	no	none, only decisionDate	no

Nothing in the actor hard-codes those four. Councils are resolved against the platform's live local-authority register (379 authorities), so an authority the platform adds later works without an update here. A council that resolves but has no applications in the register simply returns zero rows, and the run says so.

Input

Nothing is required. With no input at all the actor reads the register from its start; the prefills (Camden, the Primrose Hill coordinate, the six everyday designation layers) make the first run a real search.

Field	Type	Default	Allowed values / notes
mode	string	applications	applications = the register, constraints = designations covering a point — see Modes
council	string	(prefill Camden)	Name or short code (Camden, London Borough of Camden, CMD). Resolved against the live register — see Councils. Empty = every council. Not used in constraints
latitude	number	(prefill 51.5413)	WGS84, 49.5 … 61.0. Required for constraints
longitude	number	(prefill -0.1543)	WGS84, −9.0 … 2.5, negative west of Greenwich. Works only together with latitude
radiusMeters	integer	1000	0 … 20000. 0 in constraints = the exact point; 0 in applications is read as 1000
datasets	string[]	(prefill: the six everyday layers)	Which designation layers constraints asks about — see Designation datasets. Empty = the six defaults
textContains	string	—	Case-insensitive text in the proposal, the address or the reference (solar, loft conversion, BN43). Applied by this actor over maxScanRows
decisionContains	string	—	Case-insensitive text in either decision field (granted, refus, approve, withdrawn, delegated) — see Decision wording
decisionDateFrom	string	—	YYYY-MM-DD, inclusive. Applied by this actor over maxScanRows
decisionDateTo	string	—	YYYY-MM-DD, inclusive
reference	string	—	Exact council reference (2011/0724/C, AWDM/1227/21). Applied by the API, so it is the cheapest lookup
entryDateSince	string	—	YYYY-MM-DD. The date the platform loaded the record, not the date it was submitted or decided
onlyNew	boolean	false	Output only entity ids no earlier run with the same input delivered (state in a named key-value store)
maxScanRows	integer	5000	100 … 100000. How many register rows a run may read before the actor's own filters. Never lower than maxItems
sortBy	string	sourceOrder	sourceOrder, decisionDateDesc, decisionDateAsc — sorted among the rows the run read, see Limits
maxItems	integer	25	1 … 5000 output rows
fields	string[]	all	Keep only these output fields, in this order

Filters combine with AND. The API applies council, the circle around the coordinate, reference and entryDateSince; this actor applies textContains, decisionContains, the decision-date window and the exact distance to your coordinate, over the rows the run reads. That split is a property of the source (see Limits & FAQ), and every run reports it in its SUMMARY record.

Reference

Modes

mode	What one row is	Needs	Typical input
applications	One planning application from the register	nothing (council / coordinate / reference recommended)	{"council":"Camden","radiusMeters":800,"latitude":51.5413,"longitude":-0.1543}
constraints	One designation that covers the point or the circle	latitude + longitude	{"mode":"constraints","latitude":51.5413,"longitude":-0.1543,"radiusMeters":0}

In constraints mode council, decisionContains and the decision-date window have nothing to act on and are reported as unused in the run log and SUMMARY; textContains is matched against the designation name and reference.

Councils

council accepts the short code or any form of the name; the value is matched against the platform's live local-authority register in this order: short code, exact name, name without its legal suffix ("Camden" → "London Borough of Camden"), a name containing what you typed, and finally a small typo budget ("camdon" → Camden, reported in the run status). An authority that was abolished is used only when no active authority matches, so "Buckinghamshire" resolves to the unitary council and not to the county council that closed in 2020.

Two things never happen: the search is never widened silently, and an ambiguous name never picks a winner. "North" ends the run with the 18 candidates listed; an unknown name ends it with the five closest names. The four authorities whose applications the register holds today are in Coverage; every other council resolves but has no application rows yet.

Designation datasets

datasets (used by mode: "constraints"):

id	Layer
conservation-area	Conservation area
article-4-direction-area	Article 4 direction area (permitted development removed)
listed-building-outline	Listed building outline
tree-preservation-zone	Tree preservation zone
scheduled-monument	Scheduled monument
world-heritage-site	World heritage site
site-of-special-scientific-interest	Site of special scientific interest
flood-risk-zone	Flood risk zone
green-belt	Green belt
ancient-woodland	Ancient woodland
brownfield-land	Brownfield land register entry
national-park	National park
area-of-outstanding-natural-beauty	National landscape (AONB)
local-authority-district	Local authority district

The first six are the default. A typed id is corrected when it is close enough (conservation-areas → conservation-area) and reported; an id the platform does not publish ends the run with the list above. Not every council has published every layer — a layer with no row at your point simply returns nothing, which is an answer, not an error.

Decision wording

Councils word decisions differently and the platform passes the words through, so the actor does too: decision is the council's decision, decisionType its route or its own classification, and decisionContains searches both.

decisionContains matches a substring, so refus also returns Camden's Part Granted/Refused rows — outright refusals are the rows whose wording is exactly Refused (Camden) or Refuse (Worthing, Adur), and mixed outcomes always carry Part in front.

Council	decision	decisionType	status
Camden	(empty — the wording is in decisionType)	Granted, Refused, Withdrawn Decision, Granted Subject to a Section 106 Legal Agreement, No Objection to Works to Tree(s) in CA, Approve Works (TPO), Part Granted/Refused, …	Final Decision, Withdrawn, Appeal Decided, Appeal Lodged, Registered
Worthing, Adur	Approve, Refuse, Withdrawn, Split, Prior not required - prior approval not required	Delegated, Committee	Withdrawn or empty
Doncaster	(empty)	(empty)	(empty)

Use a fragment, not a whole word: refus catches both Refused (Camden) and Refuse (Worthing/Adur), grant catches Granted and Part Granted/Refused.

Examples

Planning history around a site in Camden (800 m)

{ "mode": "applications", "council": "Camden", "latitude": 51.5413, "longitude": -0.1543,
  "radiusMeters": 800, "maxScanRows": 3000, "maxItems": 30 }

Refusals in one council, newest decision first

{ "mode": "applications", "council": "Camden", "decisionContains": "refus",
  "sortBy": "decisionDateDesc", "maxScanRows": 4000, "maxItems": 25 }

Approved works with a link to the council's file (Worthing)

{ "mode": "applications", "council": "Worthing", "decisionContains": "approve",
  "maxScanRows": 2000, "maxItems": 30 }

Solar work as a sales pipeline (keyword over a whole council)

{ "mode": "applications", "council": "Worthing", "textContains": "solar",
  "maxScanRows": 15000, "maxItems": 20 }

One council, one year, as a table

{ "mode": "applications", "council": "Doncaster", "decisionDateFrom": "2023-01-01",
  "decisionDateTo": "2023-12-31", "sortBy": "decisionDateAsc", "maxScanRows": 2000, "maxItems": 25 }

What binds this plot? (exact point)

{ "mode": "constraints", "latitude": 51.5413, "longitude": -0.1543, "radiusMeters": 0,
  "datasets": ["conservation-area", "article-4-direction-area", "listed-building-outline",
               "tree-preservation-zone", "flood-risk-zone", "green-belt"], "maxItems": 20 }

Listed buildings and conservation areas within 300 m of an address

{ "mode": "constraints", "latitude": 51.5197, "longitude": -0.127, "radiusMeters": 300,
  "datasets": ["listed-building-outline", "conservation-area"], "maxItems": 25 }

One application by its reference, trimmed to four fields

{ "mode": "applications", "reference": "2011/0724/C",
  "fields": ["reference", "address", "decision", "decisionDate", "url"], "maxItems": 5 }

Output

One row per application (or per designation). A real row from the cloud run of the first example above (run nzp1RvTtCtCIe8APz):

{
  "entityId": 10000021615,
  "dataset": "planning-application",
  "reference": "2015/4843/L",
  "name": null,
  "council": "London Borough of Camden",
  "councilEntity": 90,
  "description": "Erection of a lower ground floor extension and internal alterations namely the formation of a small opening to the side wall to connect to the lower ground floor extension, the removal of non-original partitions, repairs to structural walls and the renewal of internal fixtures and fittings.",
  "address": "11 Prince Albert Road London NW1 7SR",
  "postcode": "NW1 7SR",
  "latitude": 51.537596,
  "longitude": -0.150267,
  "receivedDate": null,
  "decisionDate": "2015-10-09",
  "decision": "Granted",
  "decisionType": "Granted",
  "status": "Final Decision",
  "developmentClassification": null,
  "documentationUrl": null,
  "entryDate": "2025-09-09",
  "url": "https://www.planning.data.gov.uk/entity/10000021615",
  "geojsonUrl": "https://www.planning.data.gov.uk/entity/10000021615.geojson",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-09-19T22:14:18.683Z"
}

Field	Type	Filled when
entityId	number	Always (the platform's own record id); null only in the "not found" row of a reference lookup
dataset	string	Always — planning-application or the designation layer the row came from
reference	string	Applications: the council's reference. Designations: the authority's reference (CA29, LB1694)
name	string	Designations (the designation's name). Applications carry no name
council	string	The authority that published the row, resolved from councilEntity; national layers name their body (e.g. Environment Agency)
councilEntity	number	The publishing organisation's entity id
description	string	Applications: the proposal text. Camden, Worthing, Adur and Doncaster all fill it
address	string	Applications, where the council publishes a site address (not Doncaster)
postcode	string	Parsed out of address when it ends in a UK postcode
latitude, longitude	number	Applications: the published point (not Doncaster). Constraints: the coordinate you asked about, echoed into every row
receivedDate	date	Applications: the date the council received it (Worthing and Adur). Designations: the date the designation started
decisionDate	date	Applications, where the council published a decision date
decision	string	The council's decision wording; falls back to decisionType for councils that record it there
decisionType	string	The council's own route or classification (Delegated, Committee, Granted)
status	string	Camden's application status (Final Decision, Appeal Lodged, …); other councils leave it empty
developmentClassification	string	Adur and Worthing: the classification URI the council publishes
documentationUrl	string	Link to the application file on the council's portal — Adur and Worthing only
entryDate	date	When the platform loaded the record (the batch date, not the application date)
url	string	The record page on the platform
geojsonUrl	string	The record's GeoJSON — a point for applications, the boundary polygon for designations
fetchedAt	date-time	UTC timestamp of the run
found	boolean	Only on the single row a reference lookup writes when the register holds no such reference

Boundary polygons are never written into rows (one conservation area is 50 KB of WKT) — geojsonUrl serves them.

Dataset views: Planning applications (overview), Applications with coordinates (map), Designations covering the site (constraints).

The SUMMARY record in the run's key-value store holds the resolved council, the first request URL, how many rows matched server-side, how many rows were read, whether maxScanRows stopped the scan, how many rows a filter or the onlyNew state dropped, the request count, every input warning and the licence note.

Use it from code / agents

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/yadroo~uk-planning-applications/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"council":"Camden","latitude":51.5413,"longitude":-0.1543,"radiusMeters":800,"maxItems":30}'

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('yadroo/uk-planning-applications').call({
    mode: 'constraints', latitude: 51.5413, longitude: -0.1543, radiusMeters: 0,
    datasets: ['conservation-area', 'article-4-direction-area', 'flood-risk-zone'], maxItems: 20,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("yadroo/uk-planning-applications").call(run_input={
    "council": "Worthing", "textContains": "heat pump", "maxScanRows": 15000, "maxItems": 20,
})
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items

The actor is a thin wrapper over one government API, which makes it easy to hand to an agent as a tool: one JSON input, one flat row shape for both questions, and fields to keep answers short enough for a prompt — {"council":"Camden","radiusMeters":500,"latitude":51.5413,"longitude":-0.1543,"fields":["reference","address","description","decision","decisionDate"]}.

MCP: add https://mcp.apify.com to Claude, Cursor or any MCP client and call the yadroo/uk-planning-applications tool with the same JSON input.

Pricing

Pay per event: $0.001 per run start + $0.002 per row written to the dataset. Nothing else is charged — no proxy, no browser, 256 MB of memory.

Run	Cost
Site check: 3 designations at one coordinate	$0.007
The default 25-row search around a Camden coordinate	$0.051
Keyword pipeline: 20 solar applications out of a whole council	$0.041
A 500-row extract of one council	$1.001

Apify tiers reduce the per-row price automatically: Bronze −10 %, Silver −20 %, Gold and above −30 %.

Limits & FAQ

• Application coverage is partial. Four authorities, 100,627 rows, 77 % of them Camden (see Coverage). If you need a council that is not in the register, this actor cannot give it to you — it reads the national platform, not council portals.
• A snapshot, not a live feed. The register is republished in batches; the rows loaded on 2026-09-09 (Camden) and 2026-09-07 (Worthing, Adur) carry those dates in entryDate. entryDateSince and onlyNew work on that load date, so "new" means "new in the platform's batch", not "submitted this week".
• No text search in the API. The platform has no keyword search over proposals, so textContains, decisionContains and the decision-date window are applied to the rows the run reads. maxScanRows is that budget: 15,000 covers Worthing or Adur completely, Camden's 77,499 rows need a higher cap or a coordinate filter. When the cap stops a scan the run status and SUMMARY say so — a partial answer is never presented as a complete one.
• No sort in the API either. Rows arrive in the order the platform ingested them, so decisionDateDesc orders what the run read, not the whole register. Over a full council scan the two are the same thing; over a capped scan they are not.
• Doncaster rows have no address and no point. They carry reference, proposal and decision date only, so a coordinate filter can never return them, and their rows leave address, postcode, latitude, longitude empty.
• start_date filtering is broken upstream. The platform's "received since" filter returns nothing on this dataset even for rows that carry a received date, so the actor does not offer it; filter on decisionDate instead, or read the council and filter receivedDate yourself.
• Dates are passed through. A handful of council records carry obviously wrong decision dates (one Worthing row says 2046). The actor does not invent or correct them, it only converts to YYYY-MM-DD in UTC.
• Radius is exact. The circle is sent to the API as a polygon drawn around your coordinate and every returned row is then re-measured, so a 300 m search returns nothing 301 m away. Distances use WGS84 great-circle metres.
• Designation layers are not complete either. They are national where the data exists, but a council that never published, say, its tree preservation zones has none in the platform. No row at your point means "nothing published here", not "certainly unconstrained" — a formal search still belongs to the council.
• No personal data. The register publishes proposals and site addresses, and those are what the rows carry. Applicant and agent names are not in the platform's records and are never collected.
• Rate limits and blocks. The platform publishes no rate limit; the actor uses one request at a time with retry and backoff, and a normal run makes 2–30 requests. It calls www.planning.data.gov.uk and nothing else — the council portal links in documentationUrl are passed through as text and never fetched.
• Licence and attribution. Planning Data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Keep the attribution when you republish the rows. This actor is not affiliated with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

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