Land and housing data

Data is at the foundation of the UK land and housing system. It records important decisions made by planners and others working in the sector, such as whether a tree or building is to be preserved, if a former commercial site is approved for residential development, or how much money a developer will commit to planning obligations for the community. There’s data around some 300 such ‘land and housing concerns’ that government legislation requires local planning authorities to publish.

This data is essential to a wide range of users working in planning, investment, land acquisition, design, construction, marketing, sales and a range of other areas. Land and housing data:

• drives the innovative digital services that are transforming the land and housing marketplace
• helps central government judge the effectiveness of policies
• helps local planners make decisions about land and housing
• enables developers to make informed decisions about what and where to build

But there are problems across land and housing data. For example, there is often no agreed specification for how, where or when data is submitted. As a result, data isn’t always easy for its many users to find, understand, use or trust.

Also, government often asks for more data than it needs – or even asks for data that isn’t needed to answer the questions it’s asking. This limits data’s usefulness and can also mean more work for those who maintain the data.

Read about how the Digital Land team is working with policymakers, local government and PropTech developers to fix data in the land and housing sector.