Send UK planning applications to Street.co.uk
Create a Street enquiry against the property the application sits on, through the Open API or the one-step Zapier action.
Street publishes its Open API to every customer, free of charge, and runs a demo environment suppliers can ask for, which makes it one of the easier agency systems to build against. Plota brings UK planning applications from 389 council planning portals into one classified, source-linked feed. A match becomes a Street enquiry attached to the property Street already holds, which is an object the branch works through every day.
Before you start
- Get an API key (a free demo key works for testing).
- Create a saved alert in Plota for the area and categories you want, and note its alert id.
How to connect Plota to Street.co.uk
Save an alert for the branch patch
Create a saved alert in Plota for the councils and wards the office covers, plus the categories worth a call. Note the alert id.
Get a Street token
The Open API is REST and follows the JSON:API standard, so both Content-Type and Accept must be application/vnd.api+json. Authentication is a bearer token, not OAuth. Each agency generates its own token in Street under Settings → Account Administration → Applications, and there is no partner-level token, so a product serving several agencies collects one per agency. Production is https://street.co.uk/open-api/v1; the demo environment is the same path on demo.street.co.uk.
Find the property the application sits on
An enquiry is linked to a record Street already holds, so look the property up first. GET /properties takes filter[postcode], which matches a first or partial postcode, and filter[address], which is a fuzzy match on the full address string. Plota gives you both fields on every record.
Create the enquiry
POST /enquiries with data.type of enquiry. The required attributes are email_address and message, so send a mailbox you control rather than inventing one, and put the council’s description in the message. custom_source is a short origin tag, 25 characters at most. Link the enquiry to the property you just found.
Attach the detail, and dedupe on your side
Notes, tasks and follow-ups all attach to a record that already exists, so a note carrying the Plota page URL can hang off the property or the enquiry you just created. Street has no external-reference field on any writable object, so keep the planning reference and the Plota event id in your own store and decide there whether you have already sent this one.
What Street will and will not create
Street’s Open API is mostly read-only, with exactly 8 create operations: enquiries, follow-ups, tasks (the path is /todos), notes, documents, maintenance requests, marketing activity, and key features on a property. Applicants, people, properties, vendors and valuations cannot be created, and POST /people is documented to return 405. An enquiry is the realistic target, and it is the right one.
Field mapping
What arrives from Plota, and where it belongs in Street.co.uk. Plota field names are the ones in the API reference; every webhook carries them under data.application.
| Plota | Street.co.uk | Notes |
|---|---|---|
description | Enquiry message, or note body | Both are free text |
postcode | filter[postcode] on GET /properties | Matches a first or partial postcode. The enquiry’s own postcode is 8 characters and applies only when the enquiry creates a new person |
address | filter[address] on GET /properties | Fuzzy match on the full address string |
reference, links.plota | Enquiry message or note body | There is no external-reference field, so this is free text |
(the feed itself) | custom_source | 25 characters at most, so a short tag |
(your mailbox) | email_address | Required on every enquiry. Use an address you control |
What teams use this for
Valuation leads from householder work
An extension or conversion application names the address and describes the work. As an enquiry in Street it reaches the branch the same day the council publishes it.
Development sites in the patch
Filter to new homes and major works so the land-facing person sees schemes coming forward, with the dwelling count where the council states one.
Lettings and conversions
Changes of use and conversions into flats change the rental stock on a street, and they arrive with the address and the description attached.
Verify deliveries
Each webhook is signed - verify the Plota-Signature header (HMAC-SHA256 over timestamp.body). Full details in the API docs.
Street.co.uk integration FAQ
Can I send UK planning applications to Street.co.uk?
Yes, two ways. Street’s Zapier app lists a single action, Create Enquiry, so a Zap can take Plota’s webhook and raise the enquiry with no code. Or call the Open API directly and POST /enquiries.
Can Plota create a contact or an applicant in Street?
No, and neither can anything else. Street’s Open API is read-only for people, applicants, properties, vendors and valuations. Enquiries, follow-ups, tasks, notes, documents and maintenance requests are what a third party can create.
Do I need a token for every agency?
Yes. Each agency generates its own token inside Street, and there is no partner credential that spans several agencies. Street runs a developer programme and a demo environment; both are requested from its API team.
What do I put in the required email address?
A mailbox you control. email_address and message are the two required attributes on an enquiry, and inventing an address for a homeowner who has not contacted the agency would be wrong. Use a monitoring address and let the message carry the planning detail.
How do I stop a retry creating a second enquiry?
Keep the state yourself. Street has no external-reference or custom-field slot on a writable object, so dedupe on Plota’s Plota-Event-Id header and the planning reference before you call.
Does Street send webhooks too?
Yes, outbound, through Svix, with a large published set of event types. Payloads carry an id rather than the full record, so you call back for the detail. That is separate from this guide, which pushes into Street.
Is it free?
Street says its Open API is free of charge to any user or supplier. On the Plota side, a free demo key covers testing and live webhook delivery runs on the Starter plan and above.