How to search planning applications near you, postcode by postcode

Every planning application in the UK goes on a public register: drawings, objections, officer reports, decisions. For anyone planning an extension, this is gold — the record of what your council actually approves on streets like yours. Most people never read it; here's how to, efficiently.

Where the records live

• Your council's planning register — every borough runs a searchable portal (search '[borough] view planning applications'). Address and postcode search, full documents, free.
• The Planning London Datahub — the GLA's combined feed of applications across all 33 London authorities, powering most third-party tools.
• planning.data.gov.uk — the national structured-data platform for designations and, increasingly, application data.
• Planning Permission Checker — the free address check shows the designations that apply at a property's own coordinates plus recent sold prices, and links you to the right borough register. We don't republish application decisions: the council's register is the primary record, and it is free.

How to search well

Search your own street name first, then the parallel streets with identical housing stock — precedent transfers within a terrace type far better than within a radius. Filter to householder applications from the last five years. For each relevant one, skip the form and read two documents: the decision notice (what was approved or refused, with conditions) and the officer's report (the reasoning — this is where the council tells you exactly what it cares about).

Turning the record into your application

A precedent schedule — half a page listing recent consents with reference numbers, addresses and one-line descriptions — is the cheapest persuasive document in planning. It frames your proposal as consistent with established decisions, which is how planning officers are professionally obliged to think. Cite consents at the same depth and roof form on the same terrace; acknowledge any refusal and show how your scheme differs. This is part of what an architect does when preparing an application — Hampstead Architecture and Planning, the ARB-registered practice this site refers design and consent work to, build the case as well as the drawings. Checking the record yourself first tells you whether your ambitions survive contact with the evidence before you commission anything.

What the registers won't tell you

Application registers show what was decided — not what designations apply to your plot today, and not what the works are likely to cost. That's the gap the free check closes: constraint designations from the official planning.data.gov.uk geometry, sold-price comparables from HM Land Registry, and indicative build costs as low/expected/high ranges, all around one address. What it won't do is tell you how an officer will read your scheme; that is a professional's judgement, not a lookup.