Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Not Addressed
Establish a shared geospatial and environmental data platform for cross-government use
Recommendation
Within 12 months of this report, the Government should establish a shared geospatial and environmental data platform, integrated with a case working system. This should be designed for use across government departments, arms-length bodies and local planning authorities to aid decision-making and collaboration. It should be maintained by a cross- 85 departmental team. We note that mechanisms to consolidate and share data–such as the National Land Data Framework and MAGIC (Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside)–are in development. We recommend accelerating this into a fully operational data sharing platform. This would facilitate cross-government working on nature, planning and housebuilding decisions. (Recommendation, Paragraph 32)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response discusses a consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and environmental sustainability, which does not address the recommendation to establish a shared geospatial and environmental data platform within 12 months.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
6. The Government’s Planning Data Platform (https://planning.data.gov.uk) is an operational Beta service which aims to make land and housing data easier to find, use and trust. The Platform collects planning and housing data (including environmental data) from local planning authorities, other planning authorities, and existing national sources visible through services such as MAGIC and Local Land Charges. It transforms this data into a consistent format across England making it visible on a national map, as well as being searchable, and accessible through APIs which support geospatial data, and other data. The data can also be downloaded in bulk under clear licensing and attribution terms. The service is expanding in its scope, with current data driven by the needs of digital planning services being developed as part of the wider Digital Planning Programme, although the data is available for anyone to view, download and use for analysis and decisions related to the environment, planning and housebuilding. 7. Data on the platform has been prioritised to: support the development of local plans; support software such as PlanX, which reduces call-centre traffic by helping householders and others to understand whether they need planning permission; and monitor housing delivery. A key part of this work involves discovering user needs for “planning considerations” and collaboratively designing these as datasets for the platform. We are developing planning data standards and will introduce data standards via secondary legislation through planning data powers in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (“LURA 2023”), to increase consistency of data across the planning system. 8. In the Government’s Land Use Consultation last year, respondents were asked questions about actions that could be taken to improve access to spatial data for use by various sectors. The Government’s response will be outlined in the forthcoming Land Use Framework, including exploring the potential to work collaboratively across Government departments to improve the interoperability of spatial data for decision-making.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗