UK Government Unveils AI Planning Tool to Fast-Track 1.5 Million New Homes

The UK government has officially announced the launch of an AI-powered planning tool, designed to accelerate housing development across the country by removing bureaucratic delays from the planning system. Known as “Extract”, the tool is part of a broader effort to streamline the housing delivery pipeline and help achieve the government’s long-standing ambition to build 1.5 million new homes by 2030.

Unveiled at London Tech Week on 9 June, the planning tool is powered by Google DeepMind’s Gemini AI model and represents a rare fusion of cutting-edge technology with legacy government processes. Its development is part of the Plan for Change initiative, aimed at modernising public services and unlocking productivity gains across key sectors — housing being a critical one.

Bridging Tech Innovation and Housing Policy

The Extract tool has been designed to automate the analysis of complex planning documents, enabling planning officers and local councils to make faster, better-informed decisions.

At present, local authority planning teams face mounting backlogs, limited staffing, and cumbersome manual processes. By digitising, indexing, and interpreting planning data at speed, Extract promises to slash processing times and free up council capacity for higher-level tasks.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove stated:

“This is about unlocking the housing Britain needs by embracing the future of AI. Extract will help councils deliver decisions faster, and developers navigate a more predictable system.”

The tool will be offered free to all planning authorities, with national rollout expected by Spring 2026. Trials in select pilot councils are already underway.

Why the Planning System Needs a Reset

The UK’s housing pipeline has long been constrained by slow, inconsistent planning decisions. On average, a major planning application takes over 18 months to clear, and many local authorities are struggling to meet even basic statutory deadlines.

These bottlenecks not only frustrate developers but also lead to increased costs, missed targets, and public disillusionment. For SMEs and regional housebuilders, in particular, the opaque and manual nature of the current system can be a significant barrier to entry.

By integrating AI into the review and validation process, Extract aims to remove subjectivity and speed up key steps such as:

• Validating documents
• Identifying policy conflicts
• Summarising key content from large reports
• Comparing precedent cases
• Flagging incomplete submissions

If successful, the tool could bring weeks or even months of time savings per application, especially on large or mixed-use schemes.

Built on DeepMind’s Gemini AI

At the heart of Extract is Google DeepMind’s Gemini model, one of the world’s most advanced generative AI systems. Trained on a vast corpus of legal, planning, and technical documents, Gemini is designed to interpret unstructured data, identify patterns, and produce structured summaries — ideal for navigating the dense textual landscape of planning applications.

The collaboration with DeepMind brings credibility and precision to the project. Unlike generic AI tools, Extract is purpose-built to operate in a high-stakes regulatory environment, where accuracy, auditability, and transparency are essential.

While some privacy advocates have raised concerns about the use of AI in planning, government sources have confirmed that all data handling will comply with GDPR, and that council officers will retain final decision-making authority.

Supporting the 1.5 Million Homes Goal

The AI tool is one part of a multi-pronged strategy to deliver 1.5 million homes by the end of the decade, a target that has eluded successive governments.

Alongside reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, brownfield development incentives, and new funding via Homes England, the government is now leaning on digital innovation as a key enabler of systemic change.

The logic is clear: with fewer delays and greater predictability, developers will be able to plan and finance projects more efficiently, helping to increase housing starts — particularly in high-demand regions such as London, the South East, and urban regeneration zones in the North and Midlands.

Implications for Property Businesses

For housing associations, developers, planning consultants, and landowners, this announcement could mark a turning point. Once deployed, Extract has the potential to:

• Reduce planning risk during site assessments
• Enable faster project timelines, especially for volume builders
• Improve transparency for public-private partnerships
• Support smaller developers that lack in-house planning teams
• Provide better data for forecasting and investment decisions

Those who embrace the new tech early will likely gain a competitive edge, particularly in regions with previously overstretched planning offices.

Industry groups such as the Home Builders Federation have cautiously welcomed the move, highlighting the need for continued investment in digital planning infrastructure and local authority training.

Remaining Challenges

Despite the promise, the rollout of Extract is not without its hurdles. Critics point to the historic underfunding of planning departments and the risk of over-reliance on AI in nuanced decision-making processes.

Planning is not just a technical exercise — it involves community engagement, political negotiation, and site-specific judgment. If Extract is viewed as a silver bullet, without addressing broader resourcing and cultural issues, it may fall short of expectations.

Furthermore, council readiness will vary. While some urban authorities are digitally mature and AI-curious, others may struggle to implement and scale the tool without substantial support and training.

A Step in the Right Direction

Still, the launch of Extract is a strong signal that the UK government is serious about modernising housing delivery. It is one of the first tangible examples of generative AI being applied to a large-scale, high-impact public challenge in the UK.

In the words of one senior planning officer at London Tech Week:

“This could be the beginning of a new era — not just for planning, but for how government works.”

As the housing crisis continues to dominate the national agenda, and with elections on the horizon, success stories like Extract will be closely watched by policymakers, the property industry, and voters alike.