The data landscape
Everything available, before anything is claimed
Eight source families, 36 datasets and analytical tools. This section describes the complete landscape: including sources that were catalogued but not exercised: so the breadth of available information is visible before any finding is presented.
Status labels used throughout
Refreshed daily or on publication, with a short ingestion lag.
10 datasets
No time dimension, or refreshed per authority on an infrequent, non-simultaneous cycle.
7 datasets
A single point-in-time measurement; no trend analysis is possible.
4 datasets
Present but inconsistently populated, or scoped in ways that constrain querying.
5 datasets
Available in the catalogue but not exercised in the tested session, so depth is unverified.
9 datasets
Source families
Eight categories, organised as the source material organises them
7 datasets & tools
Planning Applications & Processes
Live application, decision, appeal and consultation records drawn from official Local Planning Authority portals and Planning Inspectorate outcomes.
8 datasets & tools
Local Plans & Policy
Adopted and emerging plan designations, site allocations, housing targets and plan-making milestones held per authority.
4 datasets & tools
Ownership, Sales & Value
HM Land Registry title and price paid records, VOA rateable values and land value estimates: the evidential backbone for ownership and value questions.
3 datasets & tools
Housing & Building Characteristics
Energy Performance Certificates, HMO licensing and Ordnance Survey building footprints describing the physical stock.
4 datasets & tools
Energy & Infrastructure
Distribution Network Operator substation headroom, network assets and connection capacity registers: the constraint layer for electrification.
3 datasets & tools
Demographics & Area Typology
ONS 2021 Census metrics at Output Area level, national benchmarks, boundary lookups and area typology classifications.
3 datasets & tools
Social Infrastructure & Movement
Access to schools, care and public transport, plus modelled pedestrian and vehicle activity used as directional indicators.
3 datasets & tools
Company Data & Analysis Tools
Companies House corporate records and the analytical layer: bulk statistics, appraisal, report generation, geocoding and imagery.
Spotlight · planning
Planning application data from 380+ official Local Planning Authority portals
The deepest and most current layer in the landscape. Every application type is captured: full applications, listed building consents, non-material amendments, prior approvals and discharge of conditions: with the applicant and agent behind it, the decision and its date, and the dwelling count. Around it sit the connected planning records: consultation responses, Planning Inspectorate appeal outcomes, parcel constraints, permitted development directions, tree protection orders and building control.
What you can interrogate
- Applications and decisions with full proposal text
- Applicant and agent names and companies
- Decision status, decision level, conditions and case officer
- Dwelling counts and net change in units
- Public and statutory consultee representations
- Appeal outcomes, subjects and decision timelines
- Parcel constraints, Article 4 directions and tree orders
- Linked application documents, searchable by text
What to hold in mind
- References are unique only within an authority: always check the authority prefix
- Migrated records carry placeholder receipt dates; range-filter every date query
- An address on a landowner's street is not evidence of who applied
- Consultation text is inconsistently populated, especially on the newest cases
- Consultation records hold no geography, so area filters fail silently
- Appeal recency must be read from the received date, not the update stamp
Spotlight · demographics
ONS 2021 Census: roughly 43 metrics at Output Area level
Analysis runs at Output Area geography, the finest published census level, typically covering a few hundred residents. That resolution allows a catchment to be profiled street by street rather than borough-wide. Metrics group into eight families, with national benchmarks and a boundary lookup alongside them.
Currency and boundaries
Inspect any dataset in detail
The explorer holds the full catalogue with fields, potential use and caveats for each source, filterable by family and status.