Google DeepMind's PlanAssist heads to 15 English councils to speed up planning

Google DeepMind says PlanAssist, a Gemini-based assistant for council planning officers, is moving from a pilot in Barnet, Camden and Dorset into a 12-month live trial with 12 more councils in England, including Bristol, Newcastle, Nottingham and Westminster. It checks that householder applications such as extensions and loft conversions are complete, compares them with local and national planning rules and constraints like tree preservation orders, and drafts a referenced report that the officer edits. The officer still makes every decision. Google and the government claim it cut officer time on these tasks by 58% and that over 70% of draft reports needed no edits; these are pilot figures, and the government has said the first test had no control group.

Why it mattersFor small builders, architects, landlords and shops waiting on a simple extension or alteration, faster householder decisions mean projects start sooner. The government links PlanAssist to its aim of halving routine decisions from eight weeks to four, alongside new rules from 31 October that let officers, not committees, decide straightforward cases. Treat that as a target rather than a promise: it covers only 15 councils in England for now, wider rollout by the end of 2027 depends on testing, councils are not required to use it, and it is not something businesses can buy or use themselves.

Curated by Sara Simeone as part of our human editorial coverage. The original sources are linked below; curation is distinct from a Hype or Fact? assessment.

How we knowCompany figures are labelled as their own claims; anything we couldn't verify is labelled as a report or a claim.