AI in Planning Practice – Data, Evidence, Scenarios, and Decisions

23 July 2026, 1-2pm (BST)

Register HERE

Join this event to explore how AI is being used in planning practice to improve data, evidence, scenario testing and decision-making across the sector.

The session will begin with MHCLG introducing the newly launched Extract tool, which is now available free to every local planning authority in England. Extract enables historic planning documents and maps to be converted into structured, machine-readable data. The session will include a live demonstration of the tool, showcase its capabilities, and provide an update on future developments.

The event will then feature a range of practical examples from digital planning innovators, showing how AI can support Local Plan delivery, affordable housing site identification, spatial intelligence for healthcare, housing and infrastructure planning, and the use of appeal decisions as a feedback loop for plan-making.

Agenda:

Dr Wei Yang OBE, CEO, Digital Task Force for Planning: Welcome and introduction

Speaker TBC, MHCLG: Introduction to the Extract Tool

Jess Oates, Business Development Manager, Objective: Smarter Planning: Using AI to Support Local Plan Delivery

This session will explore how AI can complement digital planning platforms to streamline Local Plan preparation, from analysing representations and managing evidence to supporting planning officers with day-to-day tasks. It will also share practical examples of where AI is already delivering value and where we see the biggest opportunities for the future.

Ewa Moskwiak, CEO & Co-founder, PlanningHub: AI for Affordable Housing: finding better sites in minutes

Finding suitable sites for affordable and community-led housing is often a time-consuming process involving multiple datasets and planning constraints. This session demonstrates how AI can identify promising sites and complete early-stage planning assessments in minutes, helping councils and housing providers accelerate delivery and make better-informed decisions.

Darshana Gothi Chauhan, CEO & Founder, Coplug: Democratising Spatial Intelligence: AI-Driven Insights for Healthcare, Housing, and Infrastructure Planning.

Effective place-based decisions require clarity across interconnected systems. We demonstrate how AI can bridge the gap in planning for housing delivery, and essential infrastructure, at every scale with a focus on healthcare. 

Phil Hodgson, Co-Founder, Planning Appeals: The feedback loop plan-making never had

Every appeal decision sets out which arguments won, which policies held up, and why. That makes the appeal record a feedback loop for plan-making the system has never had, and this session gives a flavour of what it reveals: which parts of a plan survive challenge, where the evidence needs to be strongest, and where plan-making is under most pressure across the country.

Do not miss this opportunity to learn how AI tools can help planners work more efficiently with evidence, understand complex spatial challenges, and make better-informed place-based decisions.

Register for the event here.