Registers

Planning permissions — council registers

Yes: every UK local planning authority must publish a public register of applications — address, whether it was granted or refused, and the development description (what the build is for). No: there is not one free government spreadsheet of every home extension or commercial conversion.

There are about 380 Local Planning Authorities (LPAs). Planning is local. Identify on this map reads planning.data.gov.uk at a clicked point (England). That national applications dataset is incomplete and not yet ready as a full property-level list — MHCLG says so on the dataset page. A blank Identify result is not a clean site.

1. Official master lists of UK councils

• GOV.UK — search the register of planning decisions (England and Wales). Enter a postcode and you are sent to the council register that covers that asset. gov.uk/search-register-planning-decisions
• Planning Portal — find your LPA. Postcode or authority name. planningportal.co.uk/find-your-local-planning-authority
• planning.data.gov.uk local planning authorities — MHCLG open geography of English LPAs (downloadable). Dataset: local-planning-authority
• This site’s council directory — every English district/unitary/London borough, plus Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the council website. Local councils list
• Planning Geek council directory — practical one-click links into many English planning search portals. planninggeek.co.uk/planning-authorities
• Scotland — ePlanning.scot
• Northern Ireland — Planning Portal NI register

2. How to read a council planning register

Most English and Welsh portals use Public Access, Idox or Swift. Search by street, postcode or date. Each entry should give:

• Proposal / description — exactly what the permission is for (for example “Conversion of first and second-floor offices into 4× one-bedroom flats” or “Erection of a two-storey rear extension”).
• Status — awaiting decision, granted / approved with conditions, or refused.
• Documents — drawings, site maps, and the officer’s report (why it was approved or refused).

On this map, Identify → Planning loads three tables for the area around the clicked point (about 600 m): Approved, Pending and Refused, each with location (address) and build (proposal). That feed is PlanIt, a free aggregator of council registers — coverage varies and it is not the legal file. Then use the register links for the real council documents. planning.data.gov.uk application polygons at the exact coordinate are listed as well when they exist; that national dataset is incomplete.

3. Bulk nationwide lists (commercial)

If you need every active permission in a county as a spreadsheet, you need an aggregator. Councils publish on 380 sites; there is no free complete dump.

• PlanIt — free map search across many UK registers (coverage varies). planit.org.uk
• PlanningAPI UK — vendor claim ~2.4 million entries across 400+ councils, aimed at development mapping and finance. planningapi.uk
• LandHawk — vendor claim ~99% of UK council applications, updated frequently. landhawk.uk API

Those paid APIs are not wired into this static viewer (keys belong on a server). Use them in a CRM if you need bulk export.

Manual research vs bulk export

A few specific properties: Identify the point on this map, then open the GOV.UK / Planning Portal / council register with the postcode. Read proposal, status and documents.

A county-wide spreadsheet of every live approval: not available for free from central government. Use PlanningAPI, LandHawk or a similar aggregator, or scrape is both legally and practically the wrong approach.

Identify still shows Local Plan policy, Green Belt, Article 4, brownfield and other designations at the point. Applications are a separate register. Planning system basics · All councils · APIs