Independent report

Planning and Housing Landscape Review - Executive Summary

Published 4 March 2021

Executive Summary

Geospatial data, or location data, comprises attribute data that is tied to a specific location. Over recent years there has been a huge increase in the volume and quality of location data that can be gathered and combined with other sources of information, helping inform decision making. The recent Geospatial Data Market Study highlights how the UK geospatial data market has been transformed through the evolution of data collection mechanisms.

Following the publication in 2020 of the UK Geospatial Strategy, and the National Data Strategy, the Geospatial Commission is leading a Planning and Housing programme that seeks to ‘unlock’ economic and social value through better use of geospatial data. This includes interventions to improve the accessibility of geospatial data, and the capabilities, skills and awareness.

The Geospatial Commission engaged Newgate Research in 2020 to undertake a Planning and Housing Landscape review to provide a baseline understanding of:

• What geospatial data was being used in support of planning and housing
• How geospatial data was being used and managed
• Where the challenges and opportunities are for better leveraging geospatial data in planning and housing
• What current and forthcoming geospatial initiatives participants were aware of

This independent research involved a targeted literature review, interviews with representatives of 100 organisations involved in different stages of the planning and housing ‘journey’ across the UK, and a telephone survey of 126 Local Planning Authorities from across the UK.

Across sectors, the core foundational geospatial data used in planning and housing are:

1. The Local Development Plans produced by Local Authorities, which set out the volume and type of housing needed, informing land promotion and allocation.
2. The land and property gazetteer maintained by each Local Authority which uses a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) and a Unique Street Reference Number (USRN) for each record. These records are collated by GeoPlace and made available under licence by Ordnance Survey.
3. Land ownership and leasehold titles collated by HM Land Registry, enabling the identification of who owns land and property.
4. Constraints data, including environmental data available from various members of the Geo6 and utility asset data (energy, water and telecommunications) to understand the viability of housing development.
5. Topographic landscapes on which the above data can be overlaid and represented visually and within GIS systems.

Beyond this, there is a vast array of data that can be tied back to a specific property or locality that are used by Local Authorities and companies involved in the planning, construction, sales and marketing of housing to inform decisions. This is all seen as geospatial data: attribute data that is tied to a specific location. The level of sophistication with which this data is used varies not just between ‘sectors’ but within these sectors due to issues with data quality, data accessibility and the skills of those collecting and managing the data.

The UK Geospatial Strategy includes two strategic missions for improving access to better location data and for enhancing capabilities and skills. The strategy acknowledges these opportunities, with wider work commissioned to promote and safeguard the use of location data, and to support innovation.

The UK’s National Data Strategy, published in September 2020, similarly summarises the challenges that exist in unlocking the true value of data, geospatial or otherwise. Namely that data has strong foundations, that it is available to access, and that people have the skills to use it. These both align with the areas of opportunity for geospatial data identified in this review, which related to data standards, that data was FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable), and that the necessary skills and resources were in place to leverage the data.

Outside of the core publicly available, standardised and quality assured data provided by the Geo6^{[footnote 1]}, key data in a geospatial format (notably from Local Authorities and utilities) was variable in the extent to which it could be considered FAIR. A lack of agreed and controlled standards was seen to have resulted in widespread differences in the collection, collation and availability of geospatial data. Furthermore, changes in technology and the inherent value of geospatial data have led to differences in the accuracy of data in reflecting a given location, property, asset or characteristic.

The lack of interconnectedness and interoperability between related datasets – due to a historical lack of common identifiers, differences in standard and the intended use for data – was seen to impact on the quality and objectivity of planning decision making. Restrictions to GIS functionality and interoperability within much planning software and Local Authority systems further compound issues by locking users into systems that can’t talk to one another, impacting the management of geospatial data.

Overall, there is an opportunity to create massive efficiencies through standardising metadata and schema within (and ideally between) sectors involved in planning and housing. A key implication of this review is that standardisation is a critical first step for unlocking the potential of geospatial data, but sitting alongside this, and of equivalent importance, is promoting awareness of the value of geospatial data. Through greater awareness of the how geospatial data can be applied to solve challenges and to create value, there is much greater scope for collaboration and interoperability of data.

Through the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA) the government has increased the range of core geolocation data that public sector organisations can access through Ordnance Survey, now including UPRNs, USRNs (now mandatory open standards for public sector data) and TOIDs. Similarly, the simplified common data catalogue and single data exploration licence launched by the Geospatial Commission have helped widen access to geospatial data. Other pathways include: direct access via Innovation hubs such as Geovation or through licenced or open data sources, and via a wide variety of PropTech services and consultants. However, access to “raw” geospatial data, in an efficient manner, is still often a manual and time-consuming exercise to undertake.

The companies interviewed emphasised how they would benefit from more data, made available at greater speed, in a more granular form (postcode or asset level). The data sets that they would most welcome greater access to are land co-ordinates and public land ownership; building and planning data; residential lettings data; utilities and amenities data; traffic data; and demographics and household income level data.

As identified by both the Geospatial Commission in the UK Geospatial Strategy and in the recent Geospatial Data Market Study, increasing access is one of the most complex issues to address due to a range of challenges. This includes questions around who owns the data, who collects, manages, quality assures and secures that data, and under what conditions it can be processed, shared and accessed. There are considerable legal and commercial barriers in place that make this difficult, though it is an area where some progress is being made, at least within certain sectors (e.g. energy utilities).

Over half of Local Authorities (60%) interviewed as part of this research cited a lack of geospatial skills and resources as one of the top three barriers to their maximising the value of geospatial data; and over one-third reported challenges with recruitment and retention of staff with geospatial skills. This lack of capacity is compounded by commercial end-to-end planning software which can restrict geospatial analysis.

Increasingly, companies are looking for data scientists and data engineers: people who can interpret and manipulate data as opposed to “simply” represent data geospatially within GIS applications. This is a major challenge for most organisations working in planning and housing, with companies that sit outside of the ‘PropTech’ banner struggling to recruit individuals with the skills required to really leverage geospatial data. This is compounded by little-to-no use of external professional development or membership of professional bodies that directly support the acquisition of geospatial skills.

Greater awareness of the value and application of ‘data’ in its broadest form would help to create opportunities for attracting qualified staff and leveraging geospatial data. This is needed both within organisations whose work directly or indirectly on geospatial data, and more broadly across the wider education system.

GIS capacity and skills vary across sectors and organisations, reflecting their size, budget and significance of geospatial data to the organisational objectives.

Companies have a wide variety of opportunities to access swathes of geospatial data. This includes direct access via innovation hubs such as Geovation, through licenced data such as Ordnance Survey or through data.gov and the Geo6 single data exploration licence, and indirect access through a wide variety of PropTech services and consultants. Access to “raw” geospatial data in an efficient manner is still often a manual and time-consuming exercise to undertake. Until data is collected with clear standards that enable interoperability this will continue to be a knotty issue.

Based on the evidence gathered in this review we would suggest there are four areas which should be prioritised to unlock the value of geospatial data:

1. Recognition that planning and housing data needs to be linked with spatial data from across related domains (e.g. transport, health, education etc.). This requires much greater collaboration and consultation within and between public and private sector organisations working toward the same goals of more effective planning, housing and construction. A starting point for this would be the principle of improving access and agreement on metadata standards, specifically spatial references, identifiers and dates.

2. Agreeing core data requirements and then supporting the development of a minimum degree of GIS-related competencies in relevant local planning authority staff. Allied to this would be the establishment of some shared fora for Local Authority staff to build networks of geospatial practice and professional development.

3. The next generation of geospatial planning and housing practitioners are in fact data practitioners. Engagement and communications activity should raise awareness of data engineers and software developers as to the opportunities that exist in the planning and housing sector.

4. Geospatial data is still little understood by leaders or prioritised for investment. There is a need to showcase the art of the possible (e.g. case studies with associated ROI measures) and make advocates of key decision makers across the public and private sector.

Summary of research approach

The Planning and Housing Landscape review involved a three-phase approach:

Phase One comprised a targeted literature review of relevant literature relating to planning and housing location data, tools and initiatives, supplemented by interviews with representatives of 19 organisations that hold a macro-level picture of the UK geospatial ecosystem as it relates to planning and housing.

Phase Two encompassed interviews with representatives of 81 organisations involved in different stages of the planning and housing ‘journey’. These stages included:

• Land and housing development (including identification and acquisition, land promotion and allocation, planning control and construction)
• Housing sales (including conveyancing, property sales and marketing)
• Property management

These organisations were selected to be broadly representative of the sectors involved in each of the different stages, from across the UK, and included:

• Construction companies
• Housebuilders
• Housing Associations
• Planning and development consultancies
• Architecture practices
• Licenced distribution network operators
• Gas distribution networks
• Independent gas transporters
• Water and sewerage companies
• Telecommunications companies
• Conveyancers
• PropTech firms involved in different stages of the planning and housing journey

A standardised topic guide was used to undertake interviews with representatives of these organisations, lasting between 30 and 60 minutes.

A final phase of research Phase Three involved a telephone survey of 126 Local Authorities from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Interviews were undertaken with either the Head of Planning or a representative from Local Authorities’ GIS or planning teams.

Telephone interviews were undertaken between 24th August and 2nd October 2020.

1. The British Geological Survey,The Coal Authority, HM Land Registry,Ordnance Survey,UK Hydrographic Office,The Valuation Office Agency ↩