Authority Intelligence | PlanningCore

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Planning Risk Score™ Popular

Estimate your proposal's approval probability — combines site constraints, LPA behaviour, proposal type, and comparable decisions into a single risk score.

When to use: Use at the very start of a project. Enter your postcode and proposal type to get an instant feasibility reading before committing budget.

📜 Data-driven analysis of planning outcomes

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LPA Profile

Deep-dive authority analysis — approval rates by type, refusal reason clustering, appeal overturn rates, average decision times, and strictness rankings.

When to use: Use to understand how your LPA behaves. Every council has different tendencies — some are design-focused, some are policy-strict, some are more pragmatic.

📜 MHCLG planning statistics, appeal decision analysis

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NPPF Tracker

Track NPPF changes and emerging national policy — Grey Belt provisions, BNG requirements, housing delivery test results, and policy direction alerts.

When to use: Use to stay current on national planning policy changes. Critical when the NPPF is updated, as it can change the weight given to local plan policies.

📜 NPPF (December 2024 revision)

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Committee Predictor

Predict whether your application will be delegated or called to committee — political sensitivity factors, ward member triggers, and objection thresholds.

When to use: Use to prepare for the determination route. Committee applications need different preparation (speaking rights, member briefings, visual aids).

📜 Scheme of delegation (varies by LPA)

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Committee vs Delegated Analysis New

Data-driven analysis of committee vs delegated decision patterns — approval rates by route, application type breakdown, yearly trends, and committee risk calculator.

When to use: Use to understand how your LPA splits decisions between committee and delegated powers. Shows which application types are most likely to be called to committee and how outcomes differ.

📜 Scheme of delegation, MHCLG planning statistics

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Housing Supply

5-year housing land supply calculator — Sedgefield method, Housing Delivery Test results, tilted balance trigger analysis, and Footnote 7 implications.

When to use: Use when your LPA cannot demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply. The "tilted balance" significantly increases approval chances for housing schemes.

📜 NPPF housing policies HO1/HO3/HO7, Footnote 7

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Pre-App Strategy Builder New Popular

Comprehensive pre-application strategy — should you do pre-app? How to frame your proposal? AI-generated cover letter, refusal pattern analysis, and full project timeline.

When to use: Use at Stage 3 when deciding your application strategy. Analyses LPA refusal patterns, risk data, and officer behaviour to recommend the best approach and generate a pre-app cover letter.

📜 NPPF decision-making, LPA pre-application guidance, data-driven analysis

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Strategy Simulator

Compare application routes — full planning vs LDC vs prior approval vs Section 73 vs PD. Scores each route on likelihood of success, cost, and timeline.

When to use: Use when you're unsure which application route to take. The simulator compares options side-by-side so you can make an informed strategic decision.

📜 TCPA 1990, GPDO 2015, DMPO 2015

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Case Officer Intelligence New

Individual case officer profiling — approval rates, decision speed, refusal patterns, appeal overturn rates, and tailored submission strategy advice.

When to use: Use when you know which officer is assigned to your case, or to research officer behaviour in an authority before submitting. Deep officer behaviour analytics exclusive to PlanningCore.

📜 Data-driven analysis of individual officer decision patterns

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What Would an Inspector Say? New

See your proposal through an inspector's eyes — constraint-aware analysis of what issues they'd raise, what weight they'd give each factor, and how the planning balance falls.

When to use: Use before submitting to stress-test your proposal, or after refusal to assess appeal prospects. Based on patterns from 57,000+ appeal decisions.

📜 NPPF decision-making framework, appeal decision analysis

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Inspector Simulator New

AI-powered refusal-to-appeal simulator — paste your refusal reasons and get an inspector-style assessment with precedent citations, planning balance analysis, and appeal success probability.

When to use: Use after refusal to simulate what an inspector would say about each refusal reason. Searches real appeal decisions for precedent and generates structured inspector reasoning.

📜 NPPF decision-making framework, PINS appeal analysis

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Precedent Finder Popular

Find approved and refused applications similar to yours nearby. Search by postcode, proposal type, and keywords to build a precedent schedule for your planning statement.

When to use: Use when writing your planning statement or preparing an appeal. Shows what has been approved or refused near your site for similar proposals.

📜 Consistency in decision-making, appeal precedent

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Appeal Survival Rates New

Which refusal reasons actually survive appeal — measured from thousands of PINS decision letters, by authority vs national. Includes measured resubmission success rates and the designation reality check.

When to use: Use after a refusal to decide between appealing and resubmitting, or before submitting to see which issues your authority fights hardest. Updated nightly from the decision corpus.

📜 PINS appeal decision analysis, consistency in decision-making

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Portal Watch New

Register the applications your practice acts on; our acquisition network watches the council portals and turns every change — validation, officer assignment, decision — into an event with a drafted client update.

When to use: For consultancies and architects managing live applications across multiple councils. Replaces manual portal checking.

📜 Procedural monitoring across Idox, Tascomi, Northgate and Civica portals

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Why Was My Application Refused? New

Your council's measured refusal patterns, the assigned officer's record, appeal survival rates and named comparator appeals — for one specific refused application.

When to use: Use straight after a refusal. Enter the application reference from your decision notice and see what the data says about resubmitting vs appealing.

📜 Mined decision notices, PINS appeal corpus, measured resubmission outcomes

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Do I Need Planning Permission? New

Postcode + what you want to do → a designation-aware answer: Article 4, conservation area and green belt checked against national polygon data, plus your council's measured approval rate.

When to use: Use before spending anything on drawings. Flats and Article 4 areas change the answer — this checks both.

📜 GPDO permitted development, national designation polygons (planning.data.gov.uk)

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Can I Extend My House? New

One postcode: your designations, your council's measured extension approval rate and decision speed, and named recent approvals on nearby streets.

When to use: Use at the daydream stage. What was approved next door is the strongest signal for what you can build.

📜 Decided-application corpus, designation polygons

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Should I Appeal? New

The measured appeal survival rate for your refusal reason at your council vs nationally, next to the measured resubmission success rate — the two numbers the decision turns on.

When to use: Use straight after a refusal, before paying for an appeal. Some refusal reasons rarely survive appeal; resubmission is often the better odds.

📜 PINS appeal decision corpus, measured resubmission outcomes

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Could This Become an HMO? New

The Article 4 answer for a postcode from national polygon data, plus the district's measured HMO application outcomes and named recent decisions.

When to use: Use before buying or converting. Article 4 decides most small-HMO conversions — check it first.

📜 Article 4 direction polygons, HMO application outcomes, C3→C4 GPDO right

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Refusal Analyser

Analyse refusal patterns by LPA — most common refusal reasons, policy hooks used, and how to counter each one.

When to use: Use before submitting to understand what your LPA most commonly refuses on, or after refusal to identify weaknesses in the officer's reasoning.

📜 NPPF decision-making, refusal reason analysis

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Precedent Builder

Search approved applications and appeal decisions to build a precedent schedule for your planning statement or appeal.

When to use: Use after the Precedent Finder surfaces candidates, to assemble them into a citable schedule for your submission.

📜 Consistency in decision-making, material considerations

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Planning Momentum Map

Map of where planning momentum is building — application volumes and approval trends across LPAs.

When to use: Use to spot which authorities are approving more, and where similar schemes are gaining traction.

📜 LPA decision statistics

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Case Strategy Report

Case-level strategy report — executive summary, submission timing, and what this LPA refuses on with counters for each theme.

When to use: Use once your case has data behind it, to pull the intelligence into a single strategy view before submission.

📜 Multiple — synthesises the other tools

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PlanningCore Index

National planning approval rates, refusal themes, appeal overturn rates and LPA strictness rankings from published statistics.

When to use: Use to benchmark your LPA against the national picture before setting expectations with a client.

📜 DLUHC planning statistics

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Material Considerations Guide

Guide to material considerations — what decision-makers can and cannot take into account, with the leading case law.

When to use: Use when writing or rebutting representations, to keep the argument on matters the LPA must weigh.

📜 TCPA 1990 s.70(2), case law

🏛️ Authority Intelligence