West Oxfordshire and Cotswold District Councils have made a groundbreaking change to their planning system, slashing assessment times by up to 90%. A recent pilot programme revealed that what once took around 10 weeks can now be completed in just one week. This efficiency boost was achieved through the introduction of digital tools.
The councils combined 'Go Vocal' for community engagement and 'LANDCLAN' for geospatial assessment, part of a 2024 PropTech Innovation Fund initiative. The previous manual processes struggled with high volumes of site submissions during consultations, leading to data processing challenges and delayed evaluations.
Key to the improvement was digitising the site submission process through 'Go Vocal'. This allowed stakeholders to upload spatial data and plot site boundaries directly on maps, saving planning officers from manually digitising boundaries. This digital approach eliminated resource-intensive tasks and captured essential data from the outset.
The 'LANDCLAN' platform supported digital assessments by viewing submitted sites alongside environmental, social, and policy datasets. Officers could identify key constraints, generate individual summaries, and efficiently filter sites for further consideration. A uniform dataset and assessment interface reduced variations in assessment outputs while maintaining professional judgement.
This innovative approach not only accelerates the planning process but also aims to improve consistency and make site information available to the public sooner. The success of this pilot could serve as a model for other UK local authorities facing similar planning challenges.