Free tool
Could this land get planning permission?
Enter a postcode or address and see what the national planning datasets record at that location, which authority decides it, and where that authority's Local Plan has got to.
Check your land
Enter a postcode, address or place name in England. The check queries the national planning datasets published on planning.data.gov.uk and reports what is recorded at that point. It is decision support, not a planning decision.
What the checker looks at
The check queries the national planning datasets published on planning.data.gov.uk for the point you enter and reports what is formally recorded there: Green Belt, conservation areas, listed buildings, scheduled monuments, SSSIs, ancient woodland, flood risk zones, tree preservation zones, National Parks, National Landscapes, brownfield register entries, built-up area boundaries and the Local Plan boundary for the authority.
It also identifies the local planning authority so you can read its Local Plan stage, plan age and published housing position — the factors that decide how receptive that authority currently is to new sites.
How planning potential is actually assessed
A full appraisal weighs eight evidence categories rather than a single constraint list: policy support, housing need, land supply, site status, constraints, infrastructure, comparable decisions and emerging policy. Each is scored from published evidence and cited, so the conclusion can be checked line by line.
That is the difference between a free constraints check and a scored appraisal. The free check tells you what is recorded. The appraisal tells you how the recorded evidence sits against the policy tests a decision-maker applies.
- Policy support — designation, settlement boundary, allocation status, adopted plan weight.
- Housing need and land supply — requirement, five-year supply, Housing Delivery Test.
- Constraints — statutory, heritage, environmental and flood risk.
- Infrastructure and accessibility — access, services, capacity.
- Decisions and emerging policy — comparable outcomes nearby and where the next plan is heading.
What no automated check can tell you
Access geometry, ground conditions, contamination, utility capacity, ecology survey results, landscape harm and the weight a particular officer or inspector gives to competing considerations are all site-specific. National open data cannot substitute for them, and any tool claiming to predict a decision is overstating what the evidence supports.
Where a dataset cannot be reached, the result is reported as data currently unavailable. It is never reported as an absence of constraint.
Common questions
- Is the planning potential check free?
- Yes. The constraints check is free and needs no account. Scored appraisals, saved sites, monitoring and downloadable reports are part of the paid tools.
- Which country does the checker cover?
- The national datasets behind the check cover England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland operate separate planning systems and different data publication, which we handle through the full appraisal service.
- Does a clear result mean my land can be developed?
- No. A clear constraints result removes some obvious blockers, but the development plan position, access, technical evidence and planning judgement all still apply.
Guide: Can I get planning permission on my land?
The policy tests, in plain English.
Planning authority directory
Local Plan stage and housing position by council.
This assessment is an automated planning intelligence report based on available public data. It does not constitute planning, legal, valuation or other professional advice and does not guarantee that planning permission will be granted.