The UK government has confirmed that Bristol will be one of fifteen local authorities chosen to participate in trials testing the effectiveness of using AI technology in assessing planning applications. This is a second stage of government trials testing AI tools, if successful the government has confirmed it intends to make the technology available to every council in England by the end of 2027.
The UK government is testing new AI technology designed to cut down on admin work related to planning decisions in the hopes of helping home and business owners get quicker decisions on their applications. The initial trial was conducted with Camden, Barnet, and Dorset councils which was reported to be a success.
The technology being tested is a software called PlanAssist. It was developed with Google DeepMind, Google Cloud, Faculty and local authorities. The tool was announced as a part of the government’s National Scheme of Delegation of Planning scheme in June.
PlanAssist has been designed to compile planning applications, local policies, and site constraints into one place for officers to enable them to make decisions more quickly.
Early testing showed that time spent on key planning tasks by trained officers was cut by 58% due to the use of PlanAssist, helping reduce processing time for household applications from eight weeks to four weeks.
Due to this success, the secondary stage of testing will expand trials to 15 local authorities, including Bristol City Council. The other authorities chosen are: Newcastle City Council, Nottingham City Council, Cumberland Council, Ashford Borough Council, the London Borough of Lambeth, the London Borough of Redbridge, North Lincolnshire Council, Rochdale Borough Council, South Gloucestershire Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Westminster City Council.
The government’s AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said this about the trials:
“This is what putting AI to work for the public looks like in practice. By slashing the time spent on routine planning tasks by more than half, we’re helping families get quicker answers while freeing up skilled planners to focus on the major developments that will get Britain building.”
The second stage of trials will now continue for a further 12 months whilst the newly recruited councils continue early test the technology. Notably, this tool is also being used alongside a mass recruitment of trained planning officers who will crucially remain responsible for decisions being made about planning applications.
Angela Rayner, Home Secretary, noted that the government had beaten their manifesto commitment of recruiting 300 planners, and would be going further with 1400 new recruits across the planning system by the end of the current Parliament.
Owen Larter, Senior Director at Google DeepMind highlighted the strengths of PlanAssist, stating:
“PlanAssist puts AI to work by freeing planning officers to spend more time deciding on applications and less time on administrative paperwork. Providing the tool to more councils is the natural next step, and we’ll continue supporting the government and local councils as they seek to build more homes and unlock economic growth.”
