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Planning and Housing Landscape Review.
Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021 Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021
Table of contents
Section 1. Executive Summary
Section 2. Planning and housing data use in the UK.
Section 3. Creating planning and housing value through geospatial data.
Annex 1. National and local initiatives.
Annex 2. Local Authority survey data.
Annex 3. Sector summaries.
Annex 4. Research instruments.
Annex 5. List of participating organisations.
For more information regarding this research please
contact Jake Pryszlak (Newgate Research)
email: jake.pryszlak@secnewgate.co.uk
Disclaimer
The views, opinions and implications detailed in this report are those of
the authors (Newgate Research) and do not necessarily reflect the official
policy or position of the Geospatial Commission or Cabinet Office.
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Section 1.
Executive Summary.
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1. Executive Summary Across sectors, the core foundational geospatial data used
in planning and housing are:
Geospatial data, or location data, comprises The Geospatial Commission engaged
attribute data that is tied to a specific Newgate Research in 2020 to undertake a 1. The Local Development Plans produced by Local
location. Over recent years there has been Planning and Housing Landscape review to Authorities, which set out the volume and type of
a huge increase in the volume and quality of provide a baseline understanding of: housing needed, informing land promotion
location data that can be gathered and and allocation
combined with other sources of information, > What geospatial data was being used in
2. The land and property gazetteer maintained by each
helping inform decision making. The recent support of planning and housing
Local Authority which uses a Unique Property
Geospatial Data Market Study highlights
> How geospatial data was being used Reference Number (UPRN) and a Unique Street
how the UK geospatial data market has
and managed Reference Number (USRN) for each record. These
been transformed through the evolution of
records are collated by GeoPlace and made available
data collection mechanisms. > Where the challenges and opportunities
under licence by Ordnance Survey
are for better leveraging geospatial data
Following the publication in 2020 of the in planning and housing 3. Land ownership and leasehold titles collated by
UK Geospatial Strategy, and the HM Land Registry, enabling the identification of
> What current and forthcoming geospatial
National Data Strategy, the Geospatial who owns land and property
initiatives participants were aware of
Commission is leading a Planning and 4. Constraints data, including environmental data
Housing programme that seeks to ‘unlock’ available from various members of the Geo6 and utility
This independent research involved a
economic and social value through better asset data (energy, water and telecommunications) to
targeted literature review, interviews with
use of geospatial data. This includes understand the viability of housing development
representatives of 100 organisations
interventions to improve the accessibility of
involved in different stages of the planning 5. Topographic landscapes on which the above data can
geospatial data, and the capabilities, skills
and housing ‘journey’ across the UK, and be overlaid and represented visually and within
and awareness.
a telephone survey of 126 Local Planning GIS systems
Authorities from across the UK.
Beyond this, there is a vast array of data that can be tied
back to a specific property or locality that are used
by Local Authorities and companies involved in the
planning, construction, sales and marketing of housing to
inform decisions. This is all seen as geospatial data:
attribute data that is tied to a specific location. The level of
sophistication with which this data is used varies not just
between ‘sectors’ but within these sectors due to issues
with data quality, data accessibility and the skills of those
collecting and managing the data.
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The single biggest The UK Geospatial Strategy includes two
strategic missions for improving access to
by locking users into systems that can’t
talk to one another, impacting the
issue identified through better location data and for enhancing
capabilities and skills. The strategy
management of geospatial data.
this research was that acknowledges these opportunities, with
wider work commissioned to promote and
Overall, there is an opportunity to create
massive efficiencies through standardising
the local-level building safeguard the use of location data, and to
support innovation.
metadata and schema within (and ideally
between) sectors involved in planning and
blocks of geospatial The UKs National Data Strategy, published
housing. A key implication of this review is
that standardisation is a critical first step
data - produced by in September 2020, similarly summarises
the challenges that exist in unlocking the
for unlocking the potential of geospatial
data, but sitting alongside this, and of
local planning true value of data, geospatial or otherwise.
Namely that data has strong foundations,
equivalent importance, is promoting
awareness of the value of geospatial data.
authorities - are that it is available to access, and that
people have the skills to use it. These both
Through greater awareness of the how
geospatial data can be applied to solve
difficult to access in align with the areas of opportunity for
geospatial data identified in this review,
challenges and to create value, there is
much greater scope for collaboration and
a standardised, which related to data standards, that data
was FAIR (Findable, Accessible,
interoperability of data.
machine-readable Interoperable and Reusable), and that the
necessary skills and resources were in
Through the Public Sector Geospatial
Agreement (PSGA) the government has
format. place to leverage the data. increased the range of core geolocation
data that public sector organisations can
Outside of the core publicly available, access through Ordnance Survey, now
standardised and quality assured data including UPRNs, USRNs (now mandatory
provided by the Geo6, key data in a open standards for public sector data) and
geospatial format (notably from Local TOIDs. Similarly, the simplified common
Authorities and utilities) was variable in data catalogue and single data
the extent to which it could be considered exploration licence launched by the
FAIR. A lack of agreed and controlled Geospatial Commission have helped
standards was seen to have resulted in widen access to geospatial data. Other
widespread differences in the collection, pathways include: direct access via
collation and availability of geospatial data. innovation hubs such as Geovation or
Furthermore, changes in technology and through licenced or open data sources,
the inherent value of geospatial data have and via a wide variety of PropTech
led to differences in the accuracy of data in services and consultants. However,
reflecting a given location, property, asset access to “raw” geospatial data, in an
or characteristic. efficient manner, is still often a manual
and time-consuming exercise
The lack of interconnectedness and to undertake.
interoperability between related
datasets – due to a historical lack of
common identifiers, differences in standard
and the intended use for data – was seen
to impact on the quality and objectivity of
planning decision making. Restrictions to
GIS functionality and interoperability within
much planning software and Local
Authority systems further compound issues
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The companies interviewed emphasised
how they would benefit from more data,
Increasingly, companies are looking for
data scientists and data engineers: people
Direct and paid-for access to
made available at greater speed, in a more
granular form (postcode or asset level).
who can interpret and manipulate data as
opposed to “simply” represent data
geospatial data has increased
The data sets that they would most
welcome greater access to are land
geospatially within GIS applications. This
is a major challenge for most organisations
consistently over the past
co-ordinates and public land ownership;
building and planning data; residential
working in planning and housing, with
companies that sit outside of the
10 years in line with technology
lettings data; utilities and amenities data;
traffic data; and demographics and
‘PropTech’ banner struggling to recruit
individuals with the skills required to really
for collating, managing and
household income level data. leverage geospatial data. This is
compounded by little-to-no use of external
sharing data.
As identified by both the Geospatial professional development or membership
Commission in the UK Geospatial of professional bodies that directly support
Strategy and in the recent Geospatial Data the acquisition of geospatial skills.
Market Study, increasing access is one of
the most complex issues to address due Greater awareness of the value and
to a range of challenges. This includes application of ‘data’ in its broadest form
questions around who owns the data, who would help to create opportunities for
collects, manages, quality assures and attracting qualified staff and leveraging
secures that data, and under what geospatial data. This is needed both
conditions it can be processed, shared and within organisations whose work directly
accessed. There are considerable legal or indirectly on geospatial data, and
and commercial barriers in place that make more broadly across the wider
this difficult, though it is an area where education system.
some progress is being made, at least
within certain sectors (e.g. energy utilities).
Over half of Local Authorities (60%)
interviewed as part of this research cited
a lack of geospatial skills and resources
as one of the top three barriers to their
maximising the value of geospatial data;
and over one-third reported challenges
with recruitment and retention of staff with
geospatial skills. This lack of capacity is
compounded by commercial end-to-end
planning software which can restrict
geospatial analysis.
GIS capacity and skills vary across sectors and
organisations, reflecting their size, budget and significance
of geospatial data to the organisational objectives.
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Companies have a wide variety of opportunities to access swathes of geospatial data. This Summary of research approach.
includes direct access via innovation hubs such as Geovation, through licenced data such
as Ordnance Survey or through data.gov and the Geo6 single data exploration licence, The Planning and Housing Landscape These organisations were selected to be
and indirect access through a wide variety of PropTech services and consultants. Access review involved a three-phase approach: broadly representative of the sectors
to “raw” geospatial data in an efficient manner is still often a manual and time-consuming involved in each of the different stages,
exercise to undertake. Until data is collected with clear standards that enable Phase One comprised a targeted from across the UK, and included:
interoperability this will continue to be a knotty issue. literature review of relevant literature
relating to planning and housing location > Construction companies
Based on the evidence gathered in this review we would suggest there data, tools and initiatives, supplemented by > Housebuilders
are four areas which should be prioritised to unlock the value of geospatial data: interviews with representatives of 19 > Housing Associations
organisations that hold a macro-level > Planning and development
picture of the UK geospatial ecosystem as consultancies
1. Recognition that planning and housing data needs to it relates to planning and housing. A full list > Architecture practices
be linked with spatial data from across related domains of these organisations is included as an > Licenced distribution network operators
(e.g. transport, health, education etc.). This requires Appendix to this report. > Gas distribution networks
much greater collaboration and consultation within and > Independent gas transporters
between public and private sector organisations Phase Two encompassed interviews with > Water and sewerage companies
working toward the same goals of more effective representatives of 81 organisations > Telecommunications companies
planning, housing and construction. A starting point involved in different stages of the planning > Conveyancers
for this would be the principle of improving access and and housing ‘journey’. These stages > PropTech firms involved in different
agreement on metadata standards, specifically spatial included: stages of the planning and
references, identifiers and dates. housing journey
> Land and housing development
2. Agreeing core data requirements and then supporting (including identification and acquisition, A standardised topic guide was used to
the development of a minimum degree of GIS-related land promotion and allocation, planning undertake interviews with representatives
competencies in relevant local planning authority staff. control and construction) of these organisations, lasting between
Allied to this would be the establishment of some > Housing sales (including conveyancing, 30 and 60 minutes. This is included as an
shared fora for Local Authority staff to build networks of property sales and marketing) Appendix to this report. A full list of these
geospatial practice and professional development. > Property management organisations is also included as an
Appendix to this report.
3. The next generation of geospatial planning and housing
practitioners are in fact data practitioners. Engagement A final phase of research Phase Three
and communications activity should raise awareness of involved a telephone survey of 126 Local
data engineers and software developers as to the Authorities from across England, Wales
opportunities that exist in the planning and and Northern Ireland. Interviews were
housing sector. undertaken with either the Head of
Planning or a representative from Local
4. Geospatial data is still little understood by leaders or Authorities’ GIS or planning teams.
prioritised for investment. There is a need to showcase Telephone interviews were undertaken
the art of the possible (e.g. case studies with between 24th August and 2nd October
associated ROI measures) and make advocates of key 2020. The full list of survey questions is
decision makers across the public and private sector. included as an Appendix to this report.
These were also addressed to
representatives from the Scottish
Improvement Service.
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Section 2.
Planning and housing data
use in the UK.
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Section 2. Planning and housing data use in the UK.
The ecosystem for geospatial data. properties and utilities, and the
The planning and housing geospatial marketing and sales of properties. In
ecosystem refers to the network of addition, a range of sectors and
organisations involved in the supply and professions are then involved in collating,
demand of geospatial data. It is a busy manipulating and analysing this data to
network of public and private organisations inform planning and housing decisions.
variously gathering, providing, managing,
interpreting and using location data. The Much geospatial data is now publicly
type of geospatial data used by available, through work ranging from
organisations varies hugely depending on initiatives such as Geovation to the recent
need and availability, with geospatial data opening of over 300 datasets produced by
seen to comprise any form of data that has the Geo6 and other public bodies.
a spatial, location-based element to it. However, to truly maximise the value of
At the heart of this network sit the spatially-related data, we need to start by
primary sources of geospatial data understanding the organisations that
relevant for planning and housing. Key produce and utilize this data.
among these are Local Authorities who
accumulate evidence at the beginning of To best understand the ecosystem for
the journey as the basis for drafting and geospatial data it is helpful to view it
justifying Local Plans. Local Authorities through the prism of the planning and
also provide crucial data to architects, housing ‘journey’.
developers, conveyancers and the
general public in the property development There are two broad phases of this
and sales lifecycle. The tiered nature of journey:
local government should also be
recognised, including the powers that #1 Land and housing development
some combined authorities have to (including identification and acquisition,
produce regional spatial strategies (again land promotion and allocation, planning
incorporating geospatial data). control, and construction)
Alongside Local Authorities, a wide range #2 Housing sales
of other organisations collect data tied to a (including conveyancing, property sales
location. These range from public bodies - and marketing)
such as Ordnance Survey, the British
Geological Survey, Coal Authority, HM There is also a further phase that relates
Land Registry, the Valuation Office and to the ongoing management of residential
the UK Hydrographic Office (the Geo6) - property post-sales. This was not part of
through to commercial businesses involved the remit for this research.
in the planning process, construction of
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The
Geospatial
Ecosystem 1. Land and Housing development
Identification of land Land promotion & allocation Planning process Construction
The planning and housing geospatial
ecosystem is a busy network of The first stage in the planning Local authorities will make Developers will require data from the Various professionals work to ensure
and housing journey is the identification judgements on the volume and type ‘central hub’ but this often forms part housing is built on time, in line with
organisations that gather, manage, of land for development, which could of housing needed using population, of the remit of professional planning regulations and planning.
analyse and provide spatial data across be driven by a local authority, but is social, economic and environmental consultants and architects, who in turn
data, all of which underpin the may use PropTech companies who
different stages of the planning more likely to be led by developers.
production. assimilate different datasets from
the various central sources.
and housing process. Their roles are
Landowners Land owners Developers Planning consultanices
frequently blurred and the same Land agents Developers Architects
Surveyor
organisation may source, interpret or Local authorities Local authorities Planning consultancies Transport specialists
Planning consultancies Enginners
make available a number of different Land viability valuers Architects
Economic consultancies Transport specialists Utilities
datasets, each with its own internal Land listers
Site appraisers Engineers
and external access rules and Land opportunity spotters
Local Development Utilties Site Management
Planning Project Management
licencing arrangements attached.
Surveys Estimating
Mapping Construction
To best understand the ecosystem for Modelling
geospatial data it is helpful to view it Community engagement
Risk Planning
through the prism of the planning and
housing ‘journey’. There are two broad
phases of this journey:
2. Housing sales
1. Land and Housing development
Including the identification of land Marketing, sales and
conveyancing
to construction Public Relations Buyers Risk assessment
Property owners
The developer will use data Mortgage brokers Property law
Developers Valuation
and information to calculate Sales
2. Housing sales Estate agents Marketing Lenders
housing valuations and feed
into marketing collateral Sales Conveyancers
From marketing homes to Brokerage
shared with estate agents to
mortgages and sales. market new homes. Building Modelling
Core data sources
Local Authorities Valuation Office Agency
HM Land Registry British Geological Survey
Office for National Statistics UK Hydrographic Office
0 Organisations or individuals who are important for
Historic Environment Scotland Ordnance Survey
the particular stage to be successful
0 Key requirements underpinning the particular stage
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Land and housing development. There is also a wide range of consultancies Companies involved in data aggregation
and ‘PropTech’ companies that collect and collate a wide range of
241,130
leverage geospatial data to provide land data that includes:
identification and acquisition support
for developers, including: > Topographic landscape data
The number of new homes built in The first stage in the planning and
England during 2018/19 (including housing journey is the identification of > Land ownership, planned developments,
> Addressable market sizing target land use, schemes in progress
‘change of use’ conversions) - the land for development. This can be
highest number recorded in the past driven by a Local Authority, but is more > Identifying land and property, both on and wider real estate data
30 years and moving in the direction of commonly led by developers, informed by market and off market opportunities, > Postal addresses
government targets to build 300,000 Local Development Plans (a distillation of including underdeveloped sites
> Environmental and constraints data
homes per year by the mid 2020s. the policies and proposals and constraints > Assessing the viability of opportunities,
A further 5,777 homes were built in maps) produced by Local Planning including potential environmental risks A smaller proportion of companies actively
Wales, 7,809 in Northern Ireland, and Authorities. Developers will use and risks to development posed by draw on a wider set of data on popula-
21,292 in Scotland. There are many multiple approaches to identify land utility assets, likely success of planning tions and how people interact with local
hundreds of developers and housebuilders including engaging with landowners, land applications, predictions of future environments (education, transport, social
in the UK, ranging from small companies agents and Local Authorities; using GIS demand, and estimated sales or and search data, credit card transactions,
who may build only a handful of properties software (drawing on proprietary, licenced rental values shared economy data) to identify patterns
to those such as Barratt Homes, and public geospatial data); and working
> Connecting with relevant stakeholders with capital values and growth sets.
Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey, who jointly with data aggregators such as Landmark
develop almost one in five new UK homes. and Nimbus Maps. (land/property owners)
> Producing 3D Building Information
Modelling to support planning and
cost estimation
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UK residential planning systems. In Scotland, the Planning (Scotland) Act and accountability of local public services.
2019 was recently passed which has The Improvement Service established the
As well as being a source of many of the In England, there is a tiered plan-led introduced locality plans, which are similar Spatial Information Service (now the Data
most granular geospatial datasets, Local system which includes a National to local development plans, though with and Intelligence Team) in 2015 following
Authorities are also vast consumers. Planning Policy Framework used to guide more explicit focus on accounting for the creation and commercialisation of the
Location data is critical for producing Local the production of Local Development community outcomes (such as health and Scottish national address register (The
Plans, which detail the volume and type of Plans. These are typically 15-20 year the environment) in decision making. Like One Scotland Gazetteer). This team now
housing needed in each locality, informing forward plans for how local land is to be England and Wales, Scotland has a performs a key service for Scottish Local
land promotion and allocation and used. A similar approach is taken National Planning Framework, a revised Authorities via the Spatial Hub, a web
associated planning decisions. Population within Wales, guided by the Planning version of which is currently in the service which is the centralised source of
data (behavioural trends and population Policy Wales national framework. process of being consulted on. In Scotland standardised Scottish local government
projections) and wider social, economic the housing figures come from regionally spatial data. This enables all Local
and environmental data underpin each Local Authorities in England and Wales are produced projections rather than a national Authorities to meet their legal EU
Local Plan. They also require the proactive supported by the Local Government projection (as is used in England INSPIRE obligations.
engagement of landowners, agents, Association and Welsh Local Government for example).
developers and – in some cases – utilities Association, which work with 335 of the The Data and Intelligence Team at the
companies, in identifying suitable sites 339 Local Authorities in England and the The Improvement Service in Scotland is a Improvement Service consists of eight data
for housing. 22 Welsh unitary authorities. The LGA partnership between the Convention of analysts who work across the 32 Local
helps represent the views of their Scottish Local Authorities and the Society Authorities in Scotland. The team receives
The planning systems (involving the membership to government and supports of Local Authority Chief Executives. They datasets that are processed via CKAN and
management and regulation of sector-led improvement tailored to specific play a similar role to the Local Government Python to a cloud server before being
development) of Scotland, Wales and service areas including housing. Over the Associations of England and Wales, with a standardised via FME and published
Northern Ireland are largely similar to past year, this has included 24 housing- core remit to improve the efficiency, quality on GeoServer.
England, despite a separate legal basis. related projects across 90 Local
Decisions are taken at a local level by Authorities in England.
Local Planning Authorities based on
national planning policy guidance set out In Northern Ireland the Department for
by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Infrastructure holds responsibility for
Local Government (MHCLG) in England regional planning policy. Since 2015 there
and the Scottish and Welsh Governments. has been relatively greater devolvement of
In Northern Ireland, this is produced by the responsibility to Local Authorities for
Department for Infrastructure in determining the type and scale of
collaboration with the 11 Local Authorities. development required.
There are now 40 national datasets published including local development plans, planning
application data, housing land supply and others. The Spatial Hub also hosts the SGN gas
network data. The service currently enables all Scottish public bodies free access to this
data under PSGA through either a download or an API.
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Geospatial data use > The mean number of geospatial As the team charged with collating and Key data sources relevant for Scottish
practitioners in any given Local standardising Local Authority geospatial Local Authorities, and planning and
within Local Authorities. Authority is 35, though this ranges from data in Scotland, the Data and Intelligence housing more generally in Scotland
areas that have no geospatial Team was well placed to help understand include:
To understand how geospatial data was specialists to those that have several the situation in Scottish Local Authorities:
being used within Local Authorities across hundred staff working directly with > Scottish Spatial Data Infrastructure has
England, Wales and Northern Ireland, we geospatial data. > There will be 6-8 staff with geospatial c.1,000 spatial data sets and forms the
undertook 126 telephone interviews with skills in a typical Local Authority, often metadata catalogue for Scotland. This
> Two-in-five Local Authorities have a
the Head of Planning, a representative spread across several different includes Local Authority data that is
dedicated GI/GIS team in which
from the Local Authority GIS team or departments. The bigger the authority, drawn from the Spatial Hub (and
geospatial practitioners ‘sit’; a similar
equivalent member of staff. All Local either by land mass or population, published on data.gov.uk)
proportion of Local Authorities spread
Authorities in England, Wales and the larger the team
geospatial practitioners across > Scotland’s Environment Web, which
Northern Ireland were contacted using a
multiple teams. > Many Local Authorities have disbanded has distillation of around 50 layers
census-type approach in which we sought
> To make sure geospatial data is GIS specialists and the work has been (drawn from Scottish Environment
to engage staff from as many Local
embedded across the Local Authority, taken on by general planners and Protection Agency, SEPA), Scottish
Authorities as possible - with no
78% of Local Authorities who have a researchers Natural Heritage, and Forestry
restrictions or quotas placed on the type
or location of Local Authorities. data strategy also link this to other > Geospatial data is used primarily as Scotland data); often used by planners
corporate strategies. part of the Local Development Plan > Historic Environment Scotland
The survey findings are included as an > 40% of Local Authorities have > Around half of Local Authorities
Annex to this report. In summary, the key > Scottish Enterprise provides a regional
knowledge/forums, the majority of produce online Local Development
findings included: economic spatial data resource
which include representation of Plans, and most of them will use
geospatial data professional ArcGIS Online or something similar;
> Geospatial data is used primarily to The data collated and then provided by
development. 10-15 Local Authorities will also share
help with the development of local Local Authorities in Scotland – as across
> In relation to training and development, their data via web services or APIs the UK more broadly - is seen as “fit for
plans and for the review of planning
29% of Local Authorities utilise services purpose” at a localised level. However, a
applications. This also means that
from industry or professional bodies. lack of clear quality standards and
geospatial tools are often used by
Those authorities with an annual spend consistency in the format in which data is
non-data specialists.
over £500k use services from industry provided creates challenges at more of a
> The majority of Local Authorities do not and professional bodies more than macro level (without a significant amount
place daily limits on searches made by any other. of manual cleaning).
stakeholders, though one-third of Local
> Recruitment and/or retention of staff
Authorities charge for data searches to To help address these challenges and
with geospatial skills was an issue for
either help to cover costs or to capitalise on the opportunities presented
two-in-five Local Authorities,
generate profit. by geospatial data, the Scottish
predominantly due to salary and a lack
> Data is published by Local Authorities of local talent pool. Government is investing in the digital
in several different formats including transformation of the planning system in
> A lack of geospatial skills and resource
PDF, shapefiles and Excel. Over half Scotland. As part of this Digital Planning
is the number one barrier for Local
of Local Authorities have added data to reform, they have commissioned three
Authorities to leverage geospatial data.
the data.gov portal and of these, over distinct digital ‘pathfinder reports’ on:
half shared between 1-25 datasets. planning data, the technology landscape
and PlanTech. These will be published
alongside a Digital Planning Strategy
for Scotland.
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Planning applications. planning and design of housing Construction of
developments and to inform the cost Outside of the largest construction
Planning applications submitted to Local
estimation of any construction work that
new developments. companies, it is relatively rare that
Planning Authorities will typically be
supported by a set of reports drafted by a might take place. These services are companies involved specifically in the
Once planning permission has been
consultant project team. This often typically used before planning applications construction phase would utilise GIS
granted, housing developers will
involves architects, planning and are submitted and can include data software. Similarly, data is rarely
commence construction. At this stage
development consultancies, who project visualisation solutions such as Building standardised or FAIR, and there is a lack
there is more limited engagement between
manage the process and ensure policy Information Modelling (BIM) and of geospatial capability outside of specialist
developers and the core forms of publicly
compliance, as well as architects, interactive visualisations of both above consultants and larger construction
available geospatial data, as the
engineers and other specialists. and below-ground assets to help with cost companies.
groundwork has largely been laid at the
estimation and planning. Much of the data
planning stage.
Planning consultants and architects will here is provided by developers and Local Authorities will allocate house
collect and use data that helps to: managed using CAD software and/or numbers and road names to new
Developers, architects, engineers and
game engines. developments and property conversions.
construction companies working on behalf
> Prepare feasibility studies before The Data Co-operation Agreement (DCA)
of developers will typically make use of a
developers acquire the land In planning applications, data will often be is the legal agreement and framework that
limited set of geospatial data to account
> Understand the local area and the likely positioned to show the scheme in the best underpins the creation and maintenance of
for constraints throughout the construction
considerations for a successful possible light or, where that is not possible, National Street Gazetteer (NSG) and
process (such as property access and
planning permission (e.g. future mitigation will be proposed. For larger National Address Gazetteer (NAG)
location of utility assets). This can include:
traffic demand) developments, developers may use Databases managed by GeoPlace (a joint
> Maintain an up-to-date record of engagement platforms like Commonplace venture between the Local Government
> Topographic landscapes
planning regulations in the local areas to engage with residents to pre-emptively Association and Ordnance Survey).
> Asset location records, jobs and
> Model pre-application CAD drawings address any potential objections that may It provides the framework that lets the
emerging infrastructure
> Predict the value of a home before be raised, while for planning authorities it whole public sector have access to
> Reviewing data on the location of
planning application and construction can be used as part of the public authoritative address and street spatial
utilities such as pipes and cabling, and
phases of work consultation process prescribed in article information in England and Wales. It also
transport infrastructure
15 of the Development Management recognises the role of Local Authorities
> Visual representation of sites (e.g. via
While bespoke surveys will almost always Procedure Order. in the creation and source of this
LIDAR) to represent planned
have been conducted, architects and spatial information.
developments on a CAD or GIS system
planners also draw on a wide range of Applications are generally submitted via
> Ecological and utility asset constraints
existing geospatial data, typically through the Planning Portal in England and Wales This NSG dataset can be seen to be
third party services or software, rather than or ePlanning.scot in Scotland, but a foundational for the management of utility
Larger construction companies tended to
manipulating raw geospatial data directly in substantial minority (c. 10%) are still assets, and as a basis for Local Authority
have a cloud-based common data
GIS software. Relevant data included: submitted direct to local planning network management duties. Similar
environment tailored for the construction
authorities in hard or soft copies. All services are provided in Scotland by the
industry and enabling the management of
> Land ownership and property addresses applications in Northern Ireland go Improvement Service and in Northern
a variety of data including CAD architect
> Topographic landscapes directly to the local council in Northern Ireland by Ordnance Survey NI.
and engineering plans, BIM models as well
> Constraints data Ireland. Local planning authorities will then
as geospatial data.
> Previous planning application searches consult with statutory consultees – as
> Gas and electric supply data primarily set out in Schedule 4 of the
Development Management Procedure
Once suitable plots are identified, a range Order 2015 (and devolved equivalents)
of different companies offer tailored - before reaching a decision on relevant
services and solutions to facilitate the planning and listed building consent.
26 SEC Newgate UK 27 SEC Newgate UKPlanning and Housing Landscape Review 2021 Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021
The UK’s utilities sector plays a critical The Connections Team are responsible for Key geospatial data varies between Third parties will variously have access to
enabling role in facilitating efficient establishing new connections for organisations based on their remit and an internal viewer or a third-party service.
planning of housing and in establishing residential properties in response to plans size, but typically include: Developers can also request and pay for
new residential connections and from developers, Local Authorities or other plans detailing energy and water assets to
> Topographic landscape
managing utility infrastructure. Utilities utility providers. They will collate data on inform planning and construction.
providers include: the location and performance of their own > Land ownership and property
assets (pipes, cabling circuit routes, addresses There are a wide range of geospatial
> Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) substations, ducts, cabinets and > Utility asset location records data-related initiatives taking place within
and Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs) exchanges etc.) and how these interface the utilities sector, many of which relate to
> Water drainage, flood zones, areas
responsible for regional energy with the needs of new and existing the development of centralised asset
of outstanding natural beauty, earth
distribution and connections developments by modelling pre-planning registers across different utility providers.
resistivity, roads and foot traffic
inquiries and planning applications to These are detailed in the sector
> Independent Gas Transporters (IGTs) assess risk and cost. They also ensure any > Current use and predicted demand summaries included as an Annex to
and Independent Network Operators changes to the operational network are > Planned developments and target this report.
(IDNOs) responsible for more localised reflected on a central asset register. land use
energy networks and connections
A Strategic Planning Team (or equivalent) Given the nature of the infrastructure under
> Water and Sewerage companies are involved in examining usage, management, utilities companies
responsible for regional services forecasting future demand and scenario typically have a significant dedicated
modelling to direct investment in the resource to manage the collection and
> Telecommunications companies network to meet predicted demand. As a analysis of geospatial data. This is
responsible for telecom and regulated industry, utilities companies are particularly the case for DNOs, GDNs,
broadband services required to demonstrate that the water and sewerage companies, and
investments being made in the system are telecommunications companies where
> Independent Utility Infrastructure reflective of need based on up-to-date there is responsibility for networks of
Providers operating multi-utility and relevant data on current and above and below ground assets.
networks forecasted use.
Data on owned assets is typically
Asset data is integral to the construction, Both teams will proactively engage with maintained within enterprise asset
deployment and maintenance of utility Local Authorities to help manage supply management systems, which can include
assets. Therefore, most employees will and demand. SCADA network management systems,
have access to some form of geospatial relational database management systems
data to enable them to conduct their work. that also serve as connectivity models, and
Within a typical utilities provider there will a GIS to capture, collect and present data
be two teams who will make most use of on linear network assets. While data
geospatial data. standards are still not completely aligned
within or between sectors, much of the
geospatial data collected by utility
companies is FAIR in respect of its
intended use and many companies employ
geospatial specialists and programme
developers with the right skills to
manipulate data.
28 SEC Newgate UK 29 SEC Newgate UKPlanning and Housing Landscape Review 2021 Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021
Housing marketing These platforms are underpinned by Residential conveyancing. Much of the data required for
sophisticated data aggregation capabilities, conveyancing is open-source, so many of
and sales. with newer technologies including artificial the PropTech companies involved in
Once contract negotiations commence,
intelligence, machine learning and conveyancers require all data sets that supporting land identification also provide
The second phase of the planning and blockchain likely to have an increasing information required for due diligence in
relate to a property for the sale or
housing journey is the marketing of role in the future. conveyancing (i.e. in helping buyers to
purchase. These may be simple searches
properties for sale. Housing developers identify risks and liabilities). HM Land
in terms of the property history all the way
again play a central role in this process, At this end of the housing journey, Registry is working in partnership with
through to flood risk searches and other
helping to facilitate access to relevant customers for data aggregation vary from Local Authorities to standardise and
searches that the client has asked for
geospatial data for use by conveyancers estate agents and conveyancers through migrate local land charges register
that might not be required at the start of
and real estate agents for new build to individual home buyers and renters. information to one accessible place as a
sale/purchase.
properties. For existing properties, this Many of the services offered again involve national digital service.
data is typically sourced and presented by the collation, cleaning, standardisation and According to the Conveyancing
sales and letting agents. This includes data presentation of property supply and In recent years there has been increasing
Association, there are 163 different data
on property values and information on the demand related data. This helps: support for the use of online property log
sets required to sell or buy a property in
surrounding area (e.g. school locations/ books, which provide homeowners and
England and Wales that are reviewed as
performance, transport hubs, crime > Developers and investors to prospective buyers with detailed
part of residential transactions. HM Land
rates etc.). understand the optimum pricing of their information about a property’s history
Registry holds the key information on
properties (for rental/sale) property ownership, which is integral to the (including developments, planning
Given the value that can be added at this information and building control
> Estate agents and prospective buyers conveyancing process. Aside from this,
stage, the commercial gains that can be information). This information is made
to understand market trends, including conveyancers may draw on information
made, and the range of geospatial data available through a secure web service. In
previous prices that have been used to from Ordnance Survey and Local
available there are a wide range of the future, this could form a standardised
market homes and sales prices Authorities to clarify potential risks or
businesses that support the sales and repository of property information required
errors that may impact transactions.
marketing of properties. The British > Prospective buyers to assess risk and for completing a transaction and provide
Property Federation and Future Cities to value properties efficiencies in the conveyancing process.
Data is often provided and managed in an
Catapult report that more than 50% of > Prospective buyers and renters to ‘analogue’ format, which means that
PropTech companies focus solely on identify and compare different locations property searches undertaken by
property sales. for moving home solicitors can take up to six weeks in areas
that operate more manual card-based
In Proptech 3.0: the future of real estate,
systems (such as Southampton). In other
the Said Business School identifies the
areas, such as Portsmouth or Wakefield,
opportunities and efficiency gains that
the process can be completed in less than
could be made in taking all real estate and
one hour. Data is typically not managed
transaction processes online. Real
according to FAIR principles and there is
estate FinTech ranges from equity raising
a distinct lack of capacity and skills within
platforms to debt and mortgage platforms
the conveyancing profession for managing
companies that look to facilitate the
geospatial data.
marketing and sales of both new build and
existing properties, with prominent
examples including search aggregators
like Rightmove and Zoopla, sales agents
like PurpleBricks, and businesses that
make the transaction process more
efficient such as Coadjute.
30 SEC Newgate UK 31 SEC Newgate UKPlanning
Planning and
and Housing
Housing Landscape
Landscape Review
Review 2021
2021 Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021
Section 3.
Creating planning and
housing value through
geospatial data.
32 SEC Newgate UK 33 SEC Newgate UKPlanning and Housing Landscape Review 2021 Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021
Data Access
Data Standards Data Skills
Greater opportunities
for unlocking value
in geospatial data.
“In general, what you
need to do is to make
quite a lot of data that
exists better known
about, more accessible,
in a better condition, in
a standardised format,
available to people.”
(Strategic Stakeholder)
34 SEC Newgate UK 35 SEC Newgate UKPlanning and Housing Landscape Review 2021 Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021
Getting the data
fundamentals right.
The UK’s National Data Strategy aims to boost the better
use of data across businesses, government, civil society
and individuals. It also summarises the challenges that
exist in unlocking the true value of data, geospatial
or otherwise.
The National Data Strategy highlights three core areas that
are critical for the effective and efficient use of data:
1. The data foundations – the extent to which the data
collected is ‘fit for purpose’ and recorded in
standardised formats.
2. The data skills – the ‘basic, technical, governance and
other skills needed by practitioners to maximise the
usefulness of data’.
3. The data availability – an environment that ‘facilitates
appropriate data access, mobility and re-use’.
While the National Data Strategy was written in respect of
‘data’ more generically, these areas – and the commercial,
political, cultural and technological factors impacting these
– align with those that apply to geospatial data, and with
Mission 2 and Mission 3 of the UK Geospatial Strategy:
To improve access to better location data through activity
that ensures it is findable, accessible, interoperable, “Anyone who is
reusable (FAIR) and of high quality. working with the data
To enhance the capabilities and skills of people to better
knows that the issues
leverage geospatial data, and increase awareness of the that exist relate to
opportunities that geospatial data presents
standards and quality.
The findings from this extensive benchmarking exercise It gets harder and the
are that the challenges and opportunities for organisations
to better leverage geospatial data are aligned with these
error rate goes up if you
two strategic missions. Within this section, we therefore don’t manage it well.”
detail the range of challenges and opportunities in
accordance with the issues of access (incorporating
standards and the FAIR principles), capability and skills.
(Strategic Stakeholder)
36 SEC Newgate UK 37 SEC Newgate UKPlanning and Housing Landscape Review 2021 Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021
“I question whether access is the Data standards. granting permissions to developers.
This leads to patchy and inconsistent data,
challenge. I don’t think it is, I think One of the main challenges that applies in turn resulting in different tools and
across all sectors and stages of the processes being employed to manage
the opportunity is to really improve planning and housing journey relates to and report on data.
the underlying data, particularly data standards; specifically, the
standardisation of the type of geospatial A lack of agreed standards led many
from the highly dispersed number information that is collected and the format stakeholders to report that, with over 300
different planning authorities, there was
in which this geospatial data is then stored
of smaller organisations who have and shared. huge variation in the information that is
collected, represented and provided
responsibility to curate and Standards as relating to planning: Local to third-parties. Some may provide a
distribute it.” Plans are a key source of geospatial data
for everyone from developers and planning
geo-package or shapefile detailing
Adopted and Emerging Development
consultancies through to construction and Allocations, with relevant metadata on
utility companies. However, there is no when a site will come forward. Others
(PropTech Company) agreed base level of operable planning provide an Excel sheet or PDF link to a
information that both members of the report which might contain a postcode
public and the planning community can somewhere near a site. Either way, there is
access to make decisions. As much of the often no standardisation of addressing or
local government finance legislation is from alignment of data with a consistent UPRN.
the 1980s and 1990s when the
technological context was very different,
planning authorities provide statutory
information to various organisations in
“There is a lack of
geospatially incompatible and consistency across
non-machine-readable formats.
every single
While there is some consistency in
planning language - from the National
planning authority.
Planning and Policy Framework – there is
limited prescription in how local planning (Strategic Stakeholder)
authorities collect and report data (and
what geospatial data points should be
captured) despite INSPIRE. Each Local
Authority creates their own policies and
priorities for housing and planning on the
basis of a Local Plan which draw on
different evidence and then employ
different decision-making processes in
38 SEC Newgate UK 39 SEC Newgate UKPlanning and Housing Landscape Review 2021 Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021
The single biggest issue reported by all
organisations utilising geospatial data for
For larger residential developments, it is
typically the case that developers will
“Data from utility
planning and housing was that the provide construction companies with data companies is appropriate
local-level building blocks of geospatial on a site. However, the liability for ensuring
data produced by Local Authorities were the surveys are correct rests with the for finding it but not
difficult to access in a standardised, construction company. Due to a lack of
machine-readable format. This results in agreed standards across the sector, it is appropriate for planning.”
organisations either (i) employing staff to often the case that construction companies
review and ‘translate’ documents by will repeat this work, in some cases (Large Construction Company)
interpreting the figures, graphs and charts, undertaking up to 15 surveys.
plotting GIS polygons manually and
deciphering the metadata, leading to
errors, or (ii) procuring solutions from
PropTech companies that specialise in
aggregating and standardising Local
Authority data.
“The PropTech job
Standards as relating to development: should be to translate
As part of the pre-planning application
process and in applying for planning
information for the
permission, construction and engineering end user, not to
design drawings are provided by
developers (and other utility providers) as
create standards. That
a CAD image file, alongside a wide should be sorted
variety of different types and forms of
location plans. This presents challenges
before it even gets
for those receiving that information – which to a company like
can include utilities services and
PropTechs – to manage that data and align
ourselves.”
it with their own GIS packages. In short, it
requires a substantial amount of “manual
handling”, which can lead to misalignment (PropTech Company)
through human error, undermining the
quality and reliability of the data.
40 SEC Newgate UK 41 SEC Newgate UKPlanning and Housing Landscape Review 2021 Planning and Housing Landscape Review 2021
Standards as relating to utilities: There is
recognition of the value in having a shared
Amongst organisations used to handling
geospatial data, there was agreement
“Data from utility Another initiative in recent years has been
the move toward clearer standards on the
system across all utility companies for that - assuming it contains the correct companies is specifications for hardware, software or the
representing overground and underground
assets (including Utilities by Others), and
identifier/s - the exact (geospatial) form of
data was less of an issue than it has been
appropriate for geospatial data collected and reported,
helping to pave the way for improving
for having common standards for historically, although consistency in how finding it but not access to geospatial data. The main
geospatial data. This includes
standardising how data is defined (i.e.
the same types of data are provided would
be beneficial.
appropriate for international standards body leading work
on open standards in the geospatial sector
metadata standards) and how this is planning.” is the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC),
shaped or modelled across the various Most important in unlocking value is supported by other organisations such as
organisations working in the same sector. ensuring standardisation in the metadata International Organization for
(specifically spatial references, identifiers
(Large Construction Standardization and the Worldwide
Users such as developers could draw a and dates) and schema (the metadata Web Consortium (W3C).
polygon around a proposed site and see catalogues). As an example, even where Company)
everything relating to utilities. This will there are commons standards (such as the A more recent trend has been the
help to provide a consistent experience Common Information Model developed by development of geospatial open standards
for the end user, enable collaboration on the electricity industry) there is variation outside of these formal bodies through
construction works to minimise disruption in how it is employed (e.g. in how assets crowdsourcing and collaborations between
to customers, and save a huge amount like pipes and cables are represented in organisations. This has led to open
of manpower that is currently invested in design drawings). This lack of consistency standards such as GeoJSON, STAC and
sifting through, organising and interpreting requires manual labour and/or the the Mapbox Vector Tiles specification.
the same data from different sources. development of algorithms and parsers to
enable the data to be analysed A joint OGC and W3C working group was
Within sectors borne out of competition consistently across cases. established in 2017 to support best
and regulated to encourage competition practices for geospatial data on the web
(such as energy) there is potentially a need (architecturally neutral, distributed, and
for much more explicit regulation on data open) in order to reduce the risk of
standards to prevent different companies interoperability issues caused by standards
doing their own thing. that are not aligned.
“The sector is intelligence-poor and
data-poor because there are too many
commercials behind the operations.”
(Telecommunications Company)
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