United KingdomPublic sector2025 – ongoing

UK Government

Extract assistant for digitising planning records

Extract digitised planning records in 3 minutes during council trials, the UK government reported

In progressCompany's own claimOfficial ↗

Problem

Planning officers manually checked old planning documents and maps. Digitising a record typically took 1–2 hours.

Approach

Government developers built Extract with support from Google, using Gemini to convert planning documents into digital data. Trials ran at Hillingdon, Nuneaton and Bedworth, and Exeter councils. National availability was planned for spring 2026.

Results

3 minutestime to digitise a planning record in council trials, compared with 1–2 hours manually, according to the governmentCompany's own claim[1]

Takeaway

The reported saving covered record digitisation. It did not establish a reduction in the time taken to grant planning permission.

Sources

PM unveils AI breakthrough to slash planning delays and help build 1.5 million homes: 9 June 2025
UK Government9 Jun 2025Company publication

Source summaries

[1]UK Government9 Jun 2025

The government described Extract's council trials and planned wider release. It reported digitisation taking 3 minutes per record against 1–2 hours of manual work.

Full details are in the original sources.

Added 1 Nov 2026 · Updated 1 Nov 2026