Data Tools How-To
How to use the public datasets and maps that planning applications rely on.
Latest in Data Tools How-To
159 articlesChecking coal mining and former mineral workings
A free online check tells you whether your site falls in a coal mining development high risk area. What follows is a risk assessment, often intrusive drilling, and a permit before anyone touches the coal.
Using the trip rate database for a small scheme
Trip rate data decides whether a small scheme needs junction modelling or a one-page statement. Here is how to select comparable survey sites, size the sample and present the rates so a highway officer can verify them.
Finding borehole and ground data before you buy a plot
Published borehole records and geological mapping cost nothing and answer most of the ground questions a desk study has to raise. Here is how to search them.
Checking Article 4 directions on planning.data.gov.uk
The national Article 4 dataset is the fastest first check on a site, and the least reliable last word. Here is how to use it properly.
Finding trip rate data and using it defensibly
The output is only as good as the site selection. Record the land use category, the filters, the included sites and the reason for every exclusion, then offer a sensitivity test.
Using aerodrome safeguarding maps
Safeguarding maps sit with the local planning authority, and the triggers cover far more than tall buildings. Check the map before the layout is fixed, not after.
Checking railway and canal safeguarding near a site
Network Rail and the Canal & River Trust do not grant permission, but their requirements can make one undeliverable. Here is the check to run before the boundary is fixed.
Reading a drainage asset record from a water company
A sewer asset plan shows position, size and flow direction, and rarely much else. Here is how to request it, read it and verify what it leaves out.
Finding section 106 and levy spend data locally
Councils must publish an annual infrastructure funding statement showing what developer contributions were received, allocated and spent. Here is how to read one and what the numbers do not say.
Checking the Housing Delivery Test result for an area
The Housing Delivery Test measurement is published annually for every English authority, and the consequences for decision taking follow from which band it falls into. Here is how to find it and use it properly.
Using the statutory biodiversity metric data sources
The statutory metric runs on four inputs, and each has a data source behind it. Here is which datasets support a baseline, where inventory data misleads, and the seven things an authority's ecologist checks first.
Using geological data for a desk study
Mapped bedrock and superficial geology, scanned borehole logs and the national hazard datasets will build a working ground model for a site. Here is how far those records go and where intrusive investigation takes over.
Finding air quality monitoring data for a site
Diffusion tube results need bias adjustment and often annualisation before they mean anything, and background maps come on a one kilometre grid. Where the data lives and how to use it properly.
Using the long term flood risk service for a site
The free national flood risk check answers an insurance question, not a planning one. How to read the surface water layer, where the resolution misleads, and when a site specific assessment is needed.
Using street level imagery for a site appraisal honestly
Imagery is good for context and unreliable for dimensions. This sets out the capture date checks, the site visit list it cannot replace, and how to reproduce it lawfully.
Getting rainfall and run-off data for a drainage note
Four inputs decide whether a small drainage note is accepted: rainfall depth, greenfield run-off, impermeable area and the climate change uplift. Here is where each comes from.
Reading a geology map before a foundation decision
Published geology narrows your foundation options and scopes the ground investigation. It never gives you a bearing capacity. Here is how to read it, and what to do with what you find.
Using planning application search to find precedents
Decision notices say what happened. Officer reports say why. How to search a register properly, extract the working thresholds, and cite a precedent that carries weight.
Pulling local plan policies from a council's own data
The development plan is rarely one document. How to list the right documents, read the policies map for a parcel, and record references that survive scrutiny.
Using MAGIC to build a constraints layer list
MAGIC covers ecology, landscape and soils. It carries nothing on flood zones, listed buildings or Green Belt. How to run the check, record the versions and fill the gaps.
Downloading a site boundary as GeoJSON for an application
A digital red line takes ten minutes to produce and saves the same ten minutes for every consultant on the job. It also catches a wrong site area before validation.
Finding tree preservation order data online
National datasets now carry TPO records from many councils, but coverage is patchy and area orders resist mapping. Absence of a record proves very little.
Using price paid data to sense-check a viability input
Price paid data will not replace a valuer, but it will tell you within an hour whether the sales values in an appraisal are defensible. Here is how to read it properly.
Checking aerodrome safeguarding before designing tall structures
Aerodrome safeguarding sets a ceiling on your building before any planning policy does. The map is held by the council, and it is worth asking for on day one.
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