Specification

Local plan

8 November 2025

Abstract

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

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.

Local plan
Field Requirement Datatype
reference MUST reference
name SHOULD string
dataset SHOULD string
period-start-date SHOULD datetime
period-end-date SHOULD datetime
local-planning-authorities SHOULD string
mineral-planning-authorities SHOULD string
waste-planning-authorities SHOULD string
local-plan-process SHOULD string
documentation-url MUST URL
document-url MUST URL
entry-date SHOULD datetime
start-date SHOULD datetime
end-date MAY datetime
notes MAY text
Local plan housing number
Field Requirement Datatype
reference MUST reference
local-plan MUST string
local-planning-authority SHOULD string
required-housing SHOULD integer
committed-housing SHOULD integer
allocated-housing SHOULD integer
broad-locations-housing SHOULD integer
windfall-housing SHOULD integer
entry-date SHOULD datetime
start-date SHOULD datetime
end-date MAY datetime
notes MAY text
Local plan document
Field Requirement Datatype
reference MUST reference
name MUST string
description MAY string
local-plan MUST string
document-types SHOULD string
documentation-url SHOULD URL
document-url MUST URL
entry-date SHOULD datetime
start-date SHOULD datetime
end-date MAY datetime
notes MAY text

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

Local plan

The Local plan dataset contains local plans prepared by a Local Planning Authority.

The local plan dataset SHOULD contain at least one entry for each local plan for which the data provider is the responsible authority.

Reference

Local plan reference.

Each local plan entry MUST contain a reference field value.

The local plan reference field MUST be a reference value.

Name

Local plan name.

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain a name field value.

The local plan name field MUST be a string value.

Dataset

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain a dataset field value.

The local plan dataset field MUST be a string value.

Period start date

Start date of the period the plan covers.

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain a period-start-date field value.

The local plan period-start-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Period end date

End date of the period the plan covers.

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain a period-end-date field value.

The local plan period-end-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Local Planning Authorities

Local planning authority areas covered by the local plan.

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain a local-planning-authorities field value.

The local plan local-planning-authorities field MUST be a string value.

Mineral Planning Authorities

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain a mineral-planning-authorities field value.

The local plan mineral-planning-authorities field MUST be a string value.

Waste Planning Authorities

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain a waste-planning-authorities field value.

The local plan waste-planning-authorities field MUST be a string value.

Local plan process

Examination process under which this local plan was or is being produced.

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain a local-plan-process field value.

The local plan local-plan-process field MUST be a string value.

Documentation URL

Local plan documentation page.

Each local plan entry MUST contain a documentation-url field value.

The local plan documentation-url field MUST be a URL value.

Document URL

Local plan core document.

Each local plan entry MUST contain a document-url field value.

The local plan document-url field MUST be a URL value.

Entry date

Entry date of the data.

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain an entry-date field value.

The local plan entry-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Start date

Date when the plan was officially adopted.

Each local plan entry SHOULD contain a start-date field value.

The local plan start-date field MUST be a datetime value.

End date

Date a local plan was withdrawn or revoked.

Each local plan entry MAY contain an end-date field value.

The local plan end-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Notes

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

Each local plan entry MAY contain a notes field value.

The local plan notes field MUST be a text value.

Local plan housing number

The Local plan housing number dataset contains Housing numbers for a Local Planning Authority in a local plan.

The local plan housing number dataset SHOULD contain at least one entry for each local plan housing number for which the data provider is the responsible authority.

Reference

Local plan reference.

Each local plan housing number entry MUST contain a reference field value.

The local plan housing number reference field MUST be a reference value.

Local plan

Each local plan housing number entry MUST contain a local-plan field value.

The local plan housing number local-plan field MUST be a string value.

Local Planning Authority

Local planning authority area.

Each local plan housing number entry SHOULD contain a local-planning-authority field value.

The local plan housing number local-planning-authority field MUST be a string value.

Required housing

Minimum number of homes that a plan seeks to provide during the plan period.

Each local plan housing number entry SHOULD contain a required-housing field value.

The local plan housing number required-housing field MUST be an integer value.

Committed housing

Amount of net additional housing already committed for development.

Each local plan housing number entry SHOULD contain a committed-housing field value.

The local plan housing number committed-housing field MUST be an integer value.

Allocated housing

Total number of homes planned for through local plan housing site allocations including mixed-use site allocations.

Each local plan housing number entry SHOULD contain an allocated-housing field value.

The local plan housing number allocated-housing field MUST be an integer value.

Broad locations housing

Total number of homes expected from ‘broad locations for growth’.

Each local plan housing number entry SHOULD contain a broad-locations-housing field value.

The local plan housing number broad-locations-housing field MUST be an integer value.

Windfall housing

Total number of homes expected to arise from housing sites not specifically identified in the local plan.

Each local plan housing number entry SHOULD contain a windfall-housing field value.

The local plan housing number windfall-housing field MUST be an integer value.

Entry date

Entry date of the data.

Each local plan housing number entry SHOULD contain an entry-date field value.

The local plan housing number entry-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Start date

Date the entity became active or in force.

Each local plan housing number entry SHOULD contain a start-date field value.

The local plan housing number start-date field MUST be a datetime value.

End date

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

Each local plan housing number entry MAY contain an end-date field value.

The local plan housing number end-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Notes

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

Each local plan housing number entry MAY contain a notes field value.

The local plan housing number notes field MUST be a text value.

Local plan document

The Local plan document dataset contains documents associated with a local plan.

The Local plan document dataset MAY contain at least one entry for each Local plan document for which the data provider is the responsible authority.

Reference

Each Local plan document entry MUST contain a reference field value.

The Local plan document reference field MUST be a reference value.

Name

Each Local plan document entry MUST contain a name field value.

The Local plan document name field MUST be a string value.

Description

Each Local plan document entry MAY contain a description field value.

The Local plan document description field MUST be a string value.

Local plan

Associated local plan.

Each Local plan document entry MUST contain a local-plan field value.

The Local plan document local-plan field MUST be a string value.

Document types

One or more document types.

Each Local plan document entry SHOULD contain a document-types field value.

The Local plan document document-types field MUST be a string value.

Documentation URL

Local plan document documentation page.

Each Local plan document entry SHOULD contain a documentation-url field value.

The Local plan document documentation-url field MUST be a URL value.

Document URL

A url to a document.

Each Local plan document entry MUST contain a document-url field value.

The Local plan document document-url field MUST be a URL value.

Entry date

Entry date of the data.

Each Local plan document entry SHOULD contain an entry-date field value.

The Local plan document entry-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Start date

Date the entity became active or in force.

Each Local plan document entry SHOULD contain a start-date field value.

The Local plan document start-date field MUST be a datetime value.

End date

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

Each Local plan document entry MAY contain an end-date field value.

The Local plan document end-date field MUST be a datetime value.

Notes

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

Each Local plan document entry MAY contain a notes field value.

The Local plan document notes field MUST be a text 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 SHOULD include a hyperlink to one or more endpoints for local plan data.

The endpoint documentation SHOULD include a hyperlink to one or more endpoints for local plan housing number data.

The endpoint documentation MAY include a hyperlink to one or more endpoints for Local plan 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/