Prime Minister Keir Starmer has unveiled Extract, a revolutionary AI tool designed to transform England's outdated planning system and accelerate home construction. Announced at London Tech Week, this AI assistant for planning officers and local councils was developed by the government with support from Google. The technology helps convert decades-old, handwritten planning documents and maps into digital data in minutes, powering new types of planning software that will slash the estimated 250,000 hours planning officers spend annually on manual document checking.
The current system faces significant challenges, with around 350,000 planning applications submitted yearly in England while remaining heavily reliant on paper documents – some hundreds of pages long. Each submission requires manual validation and approval by planning officers, creating substantial backlogs and delays.
Extract, built using Google's Gemini AI model, can read and digitize planning documents and maps within minutes. In trials across Hillingdon, Nuneaton & Bedworth, and Exeter councils, the system digitized planning records in just three minutes each – compared to the one to two hours typically required manually. This means Extract could process approximately 100 planning records daily, significantly accelerating the planning process.
The technology represents a novel approach built with Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform. Extract transforms complicated planning documents into easy-to-use digital maps and information using Gemini's state-of-the-art multimodal reasoning capabilities. The system 'reads' complicated planning documents and extracts critical information stored in text, handwritten annotations, and poor-quality images of maps – a task only possible due to Gemini's multimodal reasoning and tool-use capabilities.
The government is working with Google to expand Extract to all local authorities in England. Plans include expanding the tool to handle all planning document types with the aim of supporting local authorities to digitize all planning documents by the end of 2026. The planning data unlocked through Extract will be uploaded to a publicly accessible gov.uk service page, ensuring the planning system becomes more transparent, accessible, and understandable to the public.
The government's ambition is to fully digitize the planning system - making it faster, more transparent, and easier to navigate for working people, councils, businesses, and developers. This initiative is part of the government's Plan for Change milestone to build 1.5 million homes and demonstrates its commitment to harnessing technology and AI to deliver meaningful change for citizens.