Specification

Infrastructure project

14 September 2023

Abstract

This specification defines the contents and format of data which a relevant planning authority or other party may use to provide information about one or more infrastructure projects.

Status of this specification

Warning This is working copy of a specification under development. It is inappropriate to cite this draft document as anything other than a work in progress.

This is a draft specification, following the standards for planning data process [design-process]. The contents of this specification are currently under development, and liable to change based on feedback.

This document places no obligations on any party to provide data in conformance to this specification.

A future version of this specification may be formally published on GOV.UK, and cited as one of a number of official data standards for the provision of planning data under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 [LURA] or other legislation.

This technical specification is accompanied by guidance, examples and other tools which provide feedback to organisations creating data to this specification.

Comments and feedback on this specification may be provided on the GitHub discussion or sent to digitalland@communities.gov.uk.

Conformance

As well as sections marked as non-normative, all authoring guidelines, diagrams, examples, and notes in this specification are non-normative. Everything else in this specification is normative.

The key words MAY, MUST, NOT, and SHOULD in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals [RFC8174] as shown here.

Datasets and fields

This section is non-normative

An index of the datasets and fields defined by this specification.

Infrastructure project
Field Requirement Datatype
reference reference
name string
description string
applicant-organisation string
infrastructure-project-decision string
decision-date datetime
decision-maker string
geometry geometry
point point
documentation-url URL
infrastructure-project-type string
notes text
organisation reference
entry-date datetime
start-date datetime
end-date datetime
Infrastructure project log
Field Requirement Datatype
reference reference
infrastructure-project string
infrastructure-project-event string
event-date datetime
notes text
organisation reference
entry-date datetime
start-date datetime
end-date datetime
Infrastructure project document
Field Requirement Datatype
reference reference
infrastructure-project string
document-type string
name string
notes text
organisation reference
document-url URL
documentation-url URL
entry-date datetime
start-date datetime
end-date datetime

Dataset relationships

This section is non-normative

The following diagram illustrates the datasets specified by this document, and how data in a dataset entry may reference, or be referenced by an entry in another dataset.

Dataset details

Infrastructure project

The Infrastructure project dataset contains An application for a infrastructure development.

The Infrastructure project dataset contain at least one entry for each Infrastructure project for which the data provider is the responsible authority.

Reference

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a reference field value.

The Infrastructure project reference field MUST be a reference value.

The NSIP id.

Name

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a name field value.

The Infrastructure project name field MUST be a string value.

The name of the project.

Description

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a description field value.

The Infrastructure project description field MUST be a string value.

A brief description of the project.

Applicant organisation

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain an applicant-organisation field value.

The Infrastructure project applicant-organisation field MUST be a string value.

The organisation id of the organisation making the application.

Infrastructure project decision

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain an infrastructure-project-decision field value.

The Infrastructure project infrastructure-project-decision field MUST be a string value.

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a reference value from the infrastructure-project-decision dataset.

The decision, once it has been made. For example `consent-granted`.

Decision date

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a decision-date field value.

The Infrastructure project decision-date field MUST be a datetime value.

The date the decision was made, for example `2023-09-14`.

Decision maker

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a decision-maker field value.

The Infrastructure project decision-maker field MUST be a string value.

Which secretary of state made the decision.

Geometry

A polygon or multipolygon boundary.

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a geometry field value.

The Infrastructure project geometry field MUST be a geometry value.

The site boundary for the proposed development.

Point

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a point field value.

The Infrastructure project point field MUST be a point value.

Documentation URL

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a documentation-url field value.

The Infrastructure project documentation-url field MUST be a URL value.

A url to a page with more information about the project.

Infrastructure project type

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain an infrastructure-project-type field value.

The Infrastructure project infrastructure-project-type field MUST be a string value.

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a reference value from the infrastructure-project-type dataset.

The type of project, for example generating-stations.

Notes

Notes and commentary about how this data was made or may be interpreted.

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a notes field value.

The Infrastructure project notes field MUST be a text value.

Any additional notes in this field.

Organisation

Department, agency, body, company, group, or association of people.

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain an organisation field value.

The Infrastructure project organisation field MUST be a reference value.

The organisation id of the organisation that provided this data.

Entry date

Entry date of the data.

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain an entry-date field value.

The Infrastructure project entry-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Start date

Date the entity became active or in force.

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain a start-date field value.

The Infrastructure project start-date field MUST be a datetime value.

End date

Date from which the entity is not longer active or in force.

Each Infrastructure project entry MAY contain an end-date field value.

The Infrastructure project end-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Infrastructure project log

The Infrastructure project log dataset contains A log of events that happen during the infrastructure projects.

The Infrastructure project log dataset contain at least one entry for each Infrastructure project log for which the data provider is the responsible authority.

Reference

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain a reference field value.

The Infrastructure project log reference field MUST be a reference value.

Infrastructure project

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain an infrastructure-project field value.

The Infrastructure project log infrastructure-project field MUST be a string value.

The ID of the infrastructure project.

Infrastructure project event

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain an infrastructure-project-event field value.

The Infrastructure project log infrastructure-project-event field MUST be a string value.

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain a reference value from the infrastructure-project-event dataset.

An event reference for something that has happened during the process.

Event date

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain an event-date field value.

The Infrastructure project log event-date field MUST be a datetime value.

The date the event happened, for example `2023-09-14`.

Notes

Notes and commentary about how this data was made or may be interpreted.

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain a notes field value.

The Infrastructure project log notes field MUST be a text value.

Any additional notes in this field.

Organisation

Department, agency, body, company, group, or association of people.

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain an organisation field value.

The Infrastructure project log organisation field MUST be a reference value.

The organisation id of the organisation that provided this data.

Entry date

Entry date of the data.

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain an entry-date field value.

The Infrastructure project log entry-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Start date

Date the entity became active or in force.

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain a start-date field value.

The Infrastructure project log start-date field MUST be a datetime value.

End date

Date from which the entity is not longer active or in force.

Each Infrastructure project log entry MAY contain an end-date field value.

The Infrastructure project log end-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Infrastructure project document

The Infrastructure project document dataset contains The documents published and produced for a infrastructure project.

The Infrastructure project document dataset contain at least one entry for each Infrastructure project document for which the data provider is the responsible authority.

Reference

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain a reference field value.

The Infrastructure project document reference field MUST be a reference value.

Infrastructure project

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain an infrastructure-project field value.

The Infrastructure project document infrastructure-project field MUST be a string value.

The ID of the infrastructure project.

Document type

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain a document-type field value.

The Infrastructure project document document-type field MUST be a string value.

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain a reference value from the infrastructure-project-document-type dataset.

The type of document, for example development-consent-order.

Name

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain a name field value.

The Infrastructure project document name field MUST be a string value.

A name for the document.

Notes

Notes and commentary about how this data was made or may be interpreted.

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain a notes field value.

The Infrastructure project document notes field MUST be a text value.

Any additional notes in this field.

Organisation

Department, agency, body, company, group, or association of people.

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain an organisation field value.

The Infrastructure project document organisation field MUST be a reference value.

The organisation id of the organisation that provided this data.

Document URL

A url to a document.

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain a document-url field value.

The Infrastructure project document document-url field MUST be a URL value.

A url to the document.

Documentation URL

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain a documentation-url field value.

The Infrastructure project document documentation-url field MUST be a URL value.

A url to the webpage where the document has been published.

Entry date

Entry date of the data.

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain an entry-date field value.

The Infrastructure project document entry-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Start date

Date the entity became active or in force.

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain a start-date field value.

The Infrastructure project document start-date field MUST be a datetime value.

End date

Date from which the entity is not longer active or in force.

Each Infrastructure project document entry MAY contain an end-date field value.

The Infrastructure project document end-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Source documentation

The source documentation is a web page where the user should go to confirm the validity of information provided in the data.

The source documentation SHOULD be a web page accessible as [HTML] from a public URL.

Finding the information on the organisation's official website helps users check the information in the data. It increases the trust the user may place in the origin of the data, and that it is more likely to be sustained.

The source documentation SHOULD be on the offical website for the organisation.

A Local Authority or other public body should put the documentation page under their .gov.uk domain.

The source documentation MAY either contain the endpoint documentation, or link to one or more separate endpoint documentation pages.

Endpoint documentation

The endpoint documentation is a web page where a user can find a link to where they can download the data (the endpoint), along with other information relevant to a data user, such as the date the data was last updated. Every endpoint needs to be findable via a link on the source documentation page, and the endpoint documentation can be on the source page, on a separate documentation point for each endpoint, or a combination thereof.

The documentation for an endpoint SHOULD be accessible as [HTML] from a public URL.

The endpoint documentation URL SHOULD have the same URL as the endpoint documentation page.

The endpoint documentation URL MAY have the same URL as the source documentation page.

The endpoint documentation include a hyperlink to one or more endpoints for Infrastructure project data.

The endpoint documentation include a hyperlink to one or more endpoints for Infrastructure project log data.

The endpoint documentation include a hyperlink to one or more endpoints for Infrastructure project document data.

The endpoint documentation page SHOULD include a clear licence for reusing the data.

The data SHOULD be published as [crown-copyright] under [OGL3].

This data is © Crown copyright and available under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

The endpoint documentation page SHOULD include any further attribution a user of the data needs to provide if they copy, publish, distribute or otherwise retransmit the data.

Datatypes

Reference

The reference MAY be used to refer to the entity by other data.

A reference value MUST be either a [CURIE] or the reference part of a [CURIE] identifier.

A reference SHOULD be persistent. A reference SHOULD be used by the data provider to identify the same entity in the future.

A reference SHOULD NOT be used to refer to a different entity in the future.

Where a reference has been used to refer to two different entities, add a year or other text to disambiguate the references, for example use 'CA01' and 'CA01/2022' rather than just 'CA01' for two different conservation areas.

A reference SHOULD be short and meaningful to a user.

Datetime

Dates MUST conform to [ISO8601] following the [Open Standards for government guidance [formatting-dates-and-times-in-data].

A date value SHOULD be blank if it is unknown.

The date MAY just contain the year 'YYYY' if only the year is known, or 'YYYY-MM' if only the year and month is known.

Geometry

A geometry field MAY be eiher a single POLYGON or MULTIPOLYGON value.

When using Comma Separated Value (CSV), the geometry SHOULD be encoded as Well Known Text [WKT].

All points SHOULD be either in the [WGS84] (EPSG::4326) or [ETRS89] (EPSG::4258) coordinate reference system following the [Open Standards for government] guidance [exchange-of-location-point].

Boundaries provided by this dataset are intended to be used as an index. Positions calculated by the WGS84 and ETRS89 systems can currently deviate by half a metre for points within England. Survey data should be used where more precision is needed.

Coordinate values SHOULD be 6 or fewer decimal places.

Integer

A value in the integer values MUST conform to the integer datatype as defined by [tabular-metadata].

Text

All text values SHOULD be compatible with [govspeak-markdown].

All text values MUST be encoded in UTF-8 [RFC3629] following the [Open Standards for government] guidance [encoding-characters].

URL

All URL values MUST conform to [RFC3986].

For the purposes of this specification, the terms URL, URI and IRI are synonymous as set out in [URL-interoperability]

String

All string values MUST be encoded in UTF-8 [RFC3629] following the [Open Standards for government] guidance [encoding-characters].

Historical data

Removing historical data can reduce the trust a user places in the quality of the data. There are also many uses for historical documents, data and material information in planning, such as when developing an older property, processing an appeal, and monitoring the delivery of housing on older brownfield land, and when collecting evidence for plan-making.

Entries SHOULD NOT be changed or removed from the data except to correct a mistake, or for the purposes of redacting personal or otherwise sensitive information.

An entity SHOULD be updated by adding another entry to the data with the same reference and a newer entry-date.

Entries SHOULD be ordered within a dataset by the entry-date value, with older entries appearing before later entries.

The end-date field SHOULD be used to indicate when an entity is no longer applicable.

Data file formats

Data MUST be provided in at least one of the following file formats:

The preferred format for geospatial data is GeoJSON.

Tabular data SHOULD be provided as (CSV) [RFC4180] following the [Open Standards for government] guidance [tabular-data-standard].

Field names

The case and punctuation used in field names is insignificant, meaning 'StartDate', 'Start Date' 'START_DATE' and 'start.date', are all valid ways of naming the 'start-date' field.

A field name SHOULD be treated as being case insensitive.

A non-alphanumeric character in a field name SHOULD be ignored.

Evolution

This specification is expected to evolve through compatible evolution:
  1. Data may contain additional fields in the future. Processors must ignore any fields they aren't expecting.
  2. Fields in this specification will be deprecated in a future version, rather than being removed.
  3. Future versions of this specification MUST NOT significantly change the meaning of any of the fields in this version of the specification.

A sending processor conforming to this specification MAY include unspecified fields and values.

A receiving processor conforming to this specification MUST ignore any unspecified fields and their values.

Extensibility

The approach for evolution enables processors to extend the specification by including fields and data for their own purposes.

A processor SHOULD NOT add fields likely to be used in a future version of this specification for different purposes.

Endpoint

The endpoint is the URL for where data in a format defined by this specification may be downloaded. The Other patterns for collecting data are under consideration, including feeds for large datasets which change frequently.

Your data must be on a URL the public can access. We collect the latest data from there every day. We call this the ‘endpoint URL’.

Endpoints typically fall into 1 of the following 2 categories:

  • a file hosted on your web server — these will usually be URLs which end in something like .json or .csv
  • an API — these are usually hosted by your GIS (Geographic Information System) software or open data platform

Whenever your data changes, update it in the endpoint URL. Your endpoint URL should remain the same, do not change it when you make updates.

The endpoint MUST serve data conforming to this specification.

The endpoint MUST be accessible via HTTPS.

The data MUST be publicly accessible without authentication or authorisation.

Security and privacy considerations

There is a risk of people's names or other personally identifiable information appearing in the data, in particular notes, description and other text fields. It is the responsibility of the data provider to review and redact such information before publication.

The [OGL3] licence does not cover personal data in the Information.

The data MUST NOT contain any personal or sensitive information, unless explicitly required by this specification, or legislation.

Colophon

This document is © Crown Copyright and available under the Open Government Licence version 3 licence.

References

Normative references

[RFC2119]
Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels. IETF Best Current Practice. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2119
[RFC8174]
Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in [RFC2119] Key Words. IETF Best Current Practice. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8174
[RFC3629]
UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646. IETF Internet Standard. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3629
[RFC4180]
Common Format and MIME Type for Comma-Separated Values (CSV) Files. IETF Informational. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4180
[RFC7946]
The GeoJSON Format. Proposed Standard. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7946
[RFC3339]
Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps. IETF Proposed Standard. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3339
[RFC3986]
IETF Standard. Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3986
[URI-Fragment]
Section 3.5 of [RFC3986] Fragment Identifier of a URI https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3986#section-3.5
[tabular-metadata]
Metadata Vocabulary for Tabular Data. W3C Recommendation. https://www.w3.org/TR/2015/REC-tabular-metadata-20151217/
[tabular-data-model]
Model for Tabular Data and Metadata on the Web. W3C Recommendation. https://www.w3.org/TR/2015/REC-tabular-data-model-20151217
[CURIE]
CURIE Syntax 1.0 A syntax for expressing Compact URIs. W3C Working Group Note. https://www.w3.org/TR/2010/NOTE-curie-20101216/
[GML]
Geography Markup Language (GML). Open Geospatial Consortium standard (ISO 19136-1:2020). https://www.ogc.org/standards/gml
[KML]
OGC KML 2.3. Open Geospatial Consortium standard (12-007r2). http://www.opengis.net/doc/IS/kml/2.3
[Geopackage]
OGC Geopackage 1,4 Open Geospatial Consortium standard (12-128r19). http://www.opengis.net/doc/IS/geopackage/1.4
[WGS84]
National Imagery and Mapping Agency, "Department of Defense World Geodetic System 1984: Its Definition and Relationships with Local Geodetic Systems", Third Edition, 1984. The code for this standard in the European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) Registry is [EPSG::4326]. https://nsgreg.nga.mil/doc/view?i=4085
[ETRS89]
The European Terrestrial Reference System 89 (ETRS89) The code for this standard in the European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) Registry is [EPSG::4258]. http://etrs89.ensg.ign.fr/
[WKT]
OGC Well-known text (WKT) as defined by ISO/IEC 13249-3:2016. https://www.iso.org/standard/60343.html
[ISO8601]
Data elements and interchange formats – Information interchange – Representation of dates and times", ISO 8601:1988(E), International Organization for Standardization, June, 1988.
[OGL3]
Open Government Licence for public sector information. Version 3. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
[crown-copyright]
Crown copyright. Section 163 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as works made by officers or servants of the Crown in the course of their duties. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/re-using-public-sector-information/uk-government-licensing-framework/crown-copyright/

Informative references

[LURA]
Levelling-up and Regeneration Act. Originated in the House of Commons, Session 2022-23. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/55/enacted
[process]
Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government planning data standards design process (service under development). https://design.planning.data.gov.uk
[GSS]
Office for National Statistics, Geography Coding and Naming Policy for Official Statistics Version 2.0, July 2025 https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/5a050dcaac8049dc9dc0aa7de0943378/about
[govspeak-markdown]
How to publish on GOV.UK: Govspeak Markdown. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-publish-on-gov-uk/markdown
[open-standards-for-government]
Government Digital Service and Central Digital and Data Office. Open standards for government
[encoding-characters]
Encoding characters Open Standards for Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-for-government/cross-platform-character-encoding-profile
[persistent-resolvable-identifiers]
Persistent resolvable identifiers. Open Standards for Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-for-government/persistent-resolvable-identifiers
[formatting-dates-and-times-in-data]
Formatting dates and times in data. Open Standards for Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-for-government/date-times-and-time-stamps-standard
[publishing-government-documents]
Publishing government documents. Open Standards for Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-for-government/viewing-government-documents
[exchange-of-location-point]
Exchange of location point. Open Standards for Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-for-government/exchange-of-location-point
[tabular-data-standard]
Tabular data standard. Open Standards for Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recommended-open-standards-for-government/tabular-data-standard
[using-csv]
Using CSV file format. Central Digital and Data Office guidance. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-csv-file-format
[csv-on-the-web]
CSV on the Web: A Primer. W3C Working Group Note. https://www.w3.org/TR/tabular-data-primer/
[EPSG::4326]
World Geodetic System 1984 [WGS84] EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset. https://epsg.io/4326
[EPSG::4258]
The European Terrestrial Reference System 89 [ETRS89] EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset. https://epsg.io/4326
[GDAL]
GDAL. Open Source Geospatial Foundation. https://gdal.org/
[TAB]
MapInfo TAB format. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MapInfo_TAB_format
[Shapefile]
ESRI Shapefile format. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapefile
[ZIP]
ZIP format. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_(file_format)
[HTML]
WHATWG HTML. Living Standard. https://html.spec.whatwg.org/
[URL-interoperability]
WHATWG URL. Living Standard. Interoperability of URL with URI and IRI values. https://url.spec.whatwg.org/