Every planning application opens on one page: what's planned, where it's got to, who's behind it, and the council's drawings and reports. Use it to decide whether it's your kind of job.
Open an application
Click Planning data in the sidebar and search.
Click Table and click a row. Or, on the map, click a dot and then View application.
The application opens over the search. Close it with the cross at the top right to get back to your results as you left them.
The address bar shows the application's own address, so you can copy it to send to a teammate, or reload the page and land on the application.
The top of the page
The title is the site's address. Under it:
the council's decision, once there is one, with its date
the council's reference. Click it to open the application on the council's own site.
the council and the type of application
Save it as a lead
Click Save to a folder and pick a folder, or make a new one, to keep the application as a lead. Once it's saved you can:
star it, to find it again quickly with the Starred filter
give it a Stage, an Assignee to look after it, and Tags
add Notes for your team. Type @ to mention someone, and they're notified.
Notes open once the application is saved: until then it says "Save it to a folder to add notes for your team."
The proposal and where it's got to
Proposal is the work the application is for. Below it, a track shows where it's got to: Submitted, Validated, then the decision, or when the decision is due.
Then the details, such as Application type, Property value, EPC, Council, Case officer and Target decision. Click Show all … details to see the rest, such as conditions and any appeal.
People
People shows who applied and their agent, with their addresses, and any company that owns the site with the people behind it. See How to find planning agents and company owners.
Documents
Documents lists every drawing and report the council has published, grouped by kind. Click Show all to see more than the first few.
Type in Search documents… to find documents by their name or what's written in them.
If you searched with Words in the documents, the documents that mention your words are marked, such as "mentions steel".
Click a document to open it right here. Use the arrows at the top (or the left and right arrow keys) to step through the rest, and Download to keep a copy. Council's copy opens the council's original.
In a PDF, use the find box at the top to find a word and step through every place it appears.
On council site opens the full set on the council's website.
Why an application has no property value
Property value is an estimate of what the property is worth today. Where Buildscout doesn't have an estimate for a property, the detail is left out, and the table shows a dash. The same goes for every other detail: one the planning data doesn't have isn't shown.
Why there are no documents
"The council hasn't published any documents yet" means the planning data has no documents for the application yet. Click Check the council site to look on the council's own website.
Why a document opens in a new tab
Buildscout opens PDFs and pictures in the page. Other kinds of file, and documents Buildscout doesn't keep a copy of, open in a new tab instead.
Why it says "No proposal was published"
The council didn't publish a description of the work for that application. Open its documents, or click the reference to see the council's page.
Why it says "Planning application not found"
The link doesn't say which application to open, often because it was cut short when it was copied. Click the back arrow to return to Planning data and find the application, for example by its reference.