UK planning applications API.
389 council portals, one interface. Search, filter, and route planning application data without building against hundreds of separate council systems. Plota checks portals daily, normalises records into consistent fields, and keeps the official council link on every record.
Already have a key? Manage it in your dashboard.
Don’t code? See the no-code CSV option.
Ready for production? See pricing.
Send new planning matches to the tools your team already uses.
Read a saved alert as an API feed, push each new match by webhook, or connect it through Zapier and Make. CSV exports cover spreadsheet and BI workflows.
HubSpot
Pipedrive
Salesforce
Zoho
Airtable
Zapier
Make
n8n
Google Sheets
Excel
Power BI
Looker
Tableau
Slack
TeamsAlso works with custom CRMs, internal tools, and data warehouses through REST, webhooks, or CSV. Step-by-step integration guides cover the software each trade runs on - Reapit and Street for agents, CMap and Total Synergy for architects and consultants, Simpro for contractors, Re-Leased for property managers - alongside Zapier, Make, n8n, HubSpot, Salesforce, Power BI and the rest.
Not writing code? Start with the spreadsheet. Every paid plan includes a no-code export builder: filter UK planning applications, preview the matching count, and download the records as a CSV for Excel, Google Sheets, or Power BI.
See CSV exportsDifferent council labels, one record.
UK councils use different field names, date formats, and application types. Plota maps them to fixed fields and keeps the council's own values alongside its classification.
Where an authority does not publish a field, the API returns null, preserving the distinction between missing source data and a reported value.
16 categories on live records. The classifier sits on top of the authority's own application type, so you can filter consistently and still inspect what the council published.
Source-linked by default. Application responses include the Plota page and the official council record where one is published.
Six common API workflows.
Search records on demand, keep a saved area running, export rows in bulk, or send new matches into another system.
Planning leads into a CRM
Architects, planners, agents, and consultants can turn new classified applications into leads, tasks, or review queues.
Monitor an area or portfolio
Track applications around a postcode, coordinate, council, custom saved area, category, date range, status, or keyword.
Reporting and property intelligence
Combine planning activity with sites, assets, customers, valuation data, or internal datasets. Export filtered rows for BI tools when an API call is unnecessary.
Applicant and agent research
Click any applicant, agent, or case officer on the Plota site to see every application we hold for them: approval rate, category mix, and each located site on a map. Included with Starter and above.
Nationwide keyword alerts
Watch every council in the country for a keyword - heat pumps, HMOs, battery storage - with matching scoped to application descriptions so procedural noise stays out. Create the alert in your dashboard, get email digests, and read the same matches as an API feed. Starter and above.
Planning data for AI tools
The open-source MCP server gives compatible assistants structured planning records, dates, locations, classifications, and source links.
API endpoints.
Versioned REST endpoints with bearer-token authentication, cursor pagination, consistent errors, and rate-limit headers.
Data is held in memory and fully indexed, so most queries are answered in single-digit milliseconds.
Open the developer docs/v1/applicationsSearch by place, council, dates, category, status, and keywords/v1/applications/{id}Retrieve one full application record/v1/applications/nearbyFind applications around a postcode or coordinate/v1/applications/{id}/historyStatus and decision timeline/v1/applications/{id}/associatedThe family of applications around one principal application/v1/constraintsSite constraints at a point: what the national datasets put at a coordinate or postcode (Pro and above)/v1/consents/expiringConsents reaching their statutory time limit, with follow-on activity (commercial plans)/v1/appealsDecided planning appeals (Planning Inspectorate), joined to the applications they concern/v1/decision-statsDecision times and approval rates: one council, nation or the UK, or every council ranked/v1/councilsList covered councils and metadata/v1/categoriesList Plota planning categories/v1/alertsList your saved alert feeds/v1/alerts/{id}/matchesRead a saved Plota alert as an API feed/v1/exportsCreate a plan-sized CSV or JSON export/v1/webhooksRegister signed events for saved-alert matches/v1/webhooks/{id}/testSend a test webhook event/v1/demo/applicationsPublic, no-key, rate-limited demo/openapi.jsonMachine-readable OpenAPI 3 schemaRun a live request.
The request below runs against the public demo endpoint, no API key needed. It is heavily rate-limited and returns up to three results; the response opens on a full example record so you can see every field.
A free demo key gives you the full test allowance and the authenticated endpoints.
200 OK · example response (every field is null where a council omits it)
{
"data": [
{
"id": "a1b2c3d4",
"reference": "2026/2284/FUL",
"authority": {
"slug": "wandsworth",
"name": "Wandsworth"
},
"address": "81 Example Road, London SW11 6HB",
"postcode": "SW11 6HB",
"ward": "Northcote",
"uprn": "100022543210",
"description": "Single storey rear extension and associated alterations.",
"category": {
"slug": "extensions",
"label": "Extensions & alterations"
},
"categories": [
{
"slug": "extensions",
"label": "Extensions & alterations"
}
],
"planning_route": "Full planning permission",
"status": "Pending",
"stage": "pending",
"date_received": "2026-06-18",
"date_validated": "2026-06-20",
"date_decided": null,
"key_dates": {
"target_decision": "2026-08-15",
"committee": null,
"consultation_end": "2026-07-19",
"advertised": "2026-06-25",
"statutory_expiry": "2026-08-15",
"permission_expiry": null
},
"documents_count": 9,
"comments": {
"objections": 1,
"supporting": 3,
"received": 4,
"consulted": 18,
"counted_at": "2026-07-29T06:40:12Z"
},
"location": {
"lat": 51.4601,
"lng": -0.1702
},
"links": {
"plota": "https://plota.co.uk/application/a1b2c3d4",
"council": "https://planning.wandsworth.gov.uk/..."
}
}
],
"meta": {
"limit": 25,
"count": 1,
"next_cursor": "eyJzIjoiMjAyNi0wNi0xOCIsImkiOjE4fQ"
}
}
Public demo endpoint · no API key required · up to three results. Full reference in the developer docs and OpenAPI schema.
Trace every record to its source.
Plota is one of the few commercial planning APIs whose full dataset is publicly searchable, so you can check accuracy before subscribing. That public search has the largest audience of any UK planning and land search platform by Similarweb estimated monthly unique visitors, so the data behind the API is inspected daily by people outside it. Each API record includes the Plota page and, where the council publishes one, the official council application URL.
null- Over 10 million applications going back to 2016 in the Plota archive (paid plans). Deep classification runs on live data from 2026 onward; older records carry a broad, council-based type.
- Some council portals publish richer metadata than others - fields are nullable and clearly marked.
- Update frequency can depend on council portal availability; Plota checks daily and retries. Each council's last successful check is on the coverage page.
- Plota's classification adds a category on top of the council's own application type - over 99% measured accuracy (how we measure it), and every record carries both so you can verify.
API plans from £49 a month.
Plota stays free for public search and email alerts. The API is paid when Plota becomes infrastructure: software, automation, CRMs, dashboards, exports, and AI workflows.
changed_since, decided_from and decided_to on search and exports. Starter and Demo keys get a clear 403 naming the parameter.constraints lists what the national open datasets put at the record's coordinates, such as listed buildings within 150 m with grade and list entry, conservation area, flood zone, green belt, national park, SSSI, Article 4 directions and farmland grade, each with a source link.A request is one API call, however many applications it returns. A record is an application that reaches your account for the first time in a month; reading it again is free. Every plan has a monthly allowance of each, both hard caps with no automatic overage charges, and every response says where you stand.
CSV and JSON bulk export are included on paid plans and draw from the same records allowance as search (10,000 on Starter, 100,000 on Pro, 250,000 on Business), so there is no second number to watch. Starter exports cover the last 12 months; Pro and above export the full archive. See the CSV export workflow.
Paid plans can be used in your own products, CRMs, dashboards, reports, and customer-facing workflows, subject to the API terms. Platforms, marketplaces and white-label services serving several customer organisations are Pro and above. Whole-dataset delivery is an Enterprise arrangement.
API questions.
Answers to the practical questions teams tend to check before integrating planning data.
Is there an API for UK planning applications?
Yes. The Plota API gives you structured, classified, source-linked UK planning application data from hundreds of council planning portals as JSON over a REST API. You can search applications, retrieve details, query nearby a location, list councils and categories, and read your saved Plota alert feeds.
Is Plota free to use?
Yes - Plota's public planning search and email alerts stay free for people. The API is a commercial product for programmatic access: software, automation, CRMs, dashboards, exports, and AI workflows. The demo tier is free for testing the API shape.
What is a planning applications API?
A planning applications API lets software search, retrieve, and use planning application records in a structured format such as JSON, instead of relying on manual council portal searches or checking individual council websites yourself.
Can I use the Plota API with HubSpot or Pipedrive?
Yes. The API returns CRM-ready records you can map into HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Airtable, Google Sheets, Slack, or a custom CRM using API requests, signed webhooks, Zapier, Make, n8n, or your own integration code.
Can I use the Plota API for AI workflows?
Yes. The API is well suited to AI-assisted workflows that need structured, current, source-linked planning records - internal assistants, report generators, due-diligence tools, and research workflows. We publish an open-source MCP server so AI tools can query Plota directly. Plota provides data access, not legal or planning advice.
Does the API include council source links?
Yes. Where the council portal publishes one, each record includes a link back to the official council planning page for that application, alongside the Plota page.
How can I trust the data?
Transparency is the answer. Plota is one of the few enterprise-grade planning APIs that exposes its full dataset publicly through the standard Plota interface, so anyone can check accuracy before, and without, subscribing to the API. We show coverage and each council's last-checked status up front, and every record links back to the official council source so you can verify it yourself.
Does the API update in real time?
Plota monitors council portals and updates daily. New applications appear as they are processed. You can poll the API, use saved alert feeds, or register a webhook to receive new matches as they’re processed.
Does the API include historic applications?
Yes, on paid plans. Alongside the live feed, the Plota archive holds over 10 million applications going back to 2016. To include them, add a date range reaching before 2026 together with a scope (a council, nation, coordinates or keyword); historical records are returned merged with live results and flagged source: "historical". Historical records carry a broad, council-based application type rather than Plota's deep classification (which runs on live data from 2026 onward), so their category is null. The free demo tier covers live data; historical access starts on the Starter plan.
Can I use Plota data commercially in my own product?
Yes - commercial use comes with every paid plan. Display the data to your customers, store it in your CRM, build reports, dashboards and tools with it, and share what you make. Bulk export is included on every paid plan too. The licence reserves one thing: re-publishing the dataset itself as a planning-data feed - the API terms set that out. One line inside that: a platform, marketplace or white-label service that serves several customer organisations from one integration is Pro and above.
Can I automate access to the public Plota website instead?
The API is the supported route for automated and bulk access: it is faster, structured, and stable, with bulk export built in. The public website is rate-limited for people browsing, so point your software at the API.
How accurate is the classification?
UK councils share no official classification standard - each authority labels its applications in its own way. Plota's classifier supplies that missing layer, adding a consistent category to each live application on top of the council's own application type, with measured accuracy above 99%. How we measure it: we draw random samples of 200 live applications at a time and check every classification by hand. Across the five most recent audit rounds (1,000 applications, latest May 2026) the current classifier scores over 99% against the human check, with no confirmed false positives. Accuracy means the assigned category matches the hand audit; it is not the same as coverage - a record whose description is too thin to classify is left uncategorised rather than guessed, and carries the council's own type only. Every record carries both the Plota category and the council's own type, so results are verifiable against the source. It's built for filtering and triage; for legal or planning advice, speak to a professional.
How do I get an API key?
Request a free demo key on this page - confirm your email and we generate it instantly. For Starter, Pro, Business, or Enterprise plans, tell us your use case and we'll set you up.
500 test requests, free.
Enter your email and Plota sends a one-click confirmation, then your demo key is generated automatically. No sales call, no card. Start with search, details, nearby, councils, and categories, then move to a paid plan for production use.