Data Tools How-To – Page 5

26 September 2026Read article →

Finding designations on the MAGIC map

MAGIC answers the ecology and landscape half of a constraint check quickly, but it holds no flood, tree order or conservation area data. Here is how to use it properly.

Downloading the biodiversity metric and version control

The statutory biodiversity metric is a spreadsheet whose version changes the arithmetic. Where to get it, how to record the version and what officers check.

Finding housing land supply and delivery test figures

The five year supply position and the Housing Delivery Test result decide whether the presumption applies. Here is where each is published and how to check it.

Checking whether the strategic road network is engaged

A site within 67 metres of a trunk road, or putting material traffic onto it, engages the national network operator. Here is how to test that and scope the transport work before it stalls.

Ordering sewer records and pre-development enquiries

Asset location searches and pre-development enquiries answer different questions. Here is how to order both, what the records do not show, and how the responses feed a drainage strategy.

Reading habitat inventories and classification data

National habitat inventories tell you where to look, not what is there. Here is how their polygons relate to a statutory metric baseline and how to use them to scope ecological survey work.

Checking public rights of way on the definitive map

A recorded right of way exists whether or not anyone has walked it. Here is how to order the definitive map and statement, read the classification and width, and run a diversion order before development starts.

Using historic mapping in a contamination desk study

The map sequence is the backbone of a Phase 1 desk study, and reading the annotation properly is what turns a pretty figure into evidence.

Finding borehole and geology records for a site

A free hour with the national geological records usually tells you what the ground is likely to be, which is enough to write a sensible investigation brief.

Using the coalfield interactive map before you buy a site

The published coalfield mapping tells you in a minute whether a site sits in a development high risk area, which decides whether a coal mining risk assessment is needed at all.

Checking title and ownership before you submit

Wrong certificates and short red lines cause most validation failures. What to order from Land Registry, what to overlay, and what the plan will not tell you.

Reading a council planning register for site history

A planning register search costs nothing and usually changes the design. Where the useful material sits, and how to assemble a planning history that works.

Finding a local validation list and checking it is current

Local validation lists expire after two years under article 11 of the procedure order. Where to find yours, which requests are unlawful and how to answer them.

Finding a local nature recovery strategy and using it

Local nature recovery strategies decide where habitat creation earns a strategic significance uplift. Where to find the mapping and how to build it into a scheme.

22 September 2026Read article →

Using MAGIC to find ecological designations near a site

MAGIC shows designations and habitat inventories, not species records. How to run the check properly and what it tells you about the survey work ahead.

22 September 2026Read article →

Getting site constraint data from planning.data.gov.uk

The national planning data platform assembles a constraints picture in minutes. Which layers are authoritative, which are still filling, and how to verify the rest.

22 September 2026Read article →

Checking surface water and reservoir flood risk online

Two national flood services answer different questions. How to read the surface water bands, what the reservoir layer is really for, and where groundwater risk hides.

Building a constraints plan before the design starts

One drawing showing every designation, physical limit and buried service, with a schedule of sources and dates. Here is how to build it and how to read it.

Trip rate evidence for a transport statement

Trip rate work is judged on site selection, not arithmetic. Here is how to filter comparable surveys, agree the method with the highway authority and set out rates an officer can check.

Checking public rights of way before fixing a layout

A footpath across the site cannot be built over or informally moved. Where the definitive map lives, what it does not show, and how diversion orders actually run.

Establishing site levels from survey and elevation data

Open elevation data gets you to a feasibility answer. It does not get you to a submission where a level change matters. What to use, when to survey, what to draw.

Checking ancient woodland and veteran trees before layout

Ancient woodland and veteran trees are irreplaceable habitat. Find them on the national datasets, apply the standing advice buffers, then design the layout around them.

Using geological mapping before a ground investigation

Published geological mapping and borehole records narrow the ground questions on a small site before anyone hires a rig. They cannot answer them, and knowing the difference saves money.