PlanningAssist · Beta
The planning question, answered from the rules.
It’s public and still changing.
Read the transcript
Planning rules are long, local and easy to get wrong.
So we read the rulebook first, in short passages, each tagged with where it came from.
Each passage is filed by meaning, so a question finds the right policy even when it's phrased differently.
Answers come only from what we find, and every point cites its source.
If nothing matches well enough, it says so instead of guessing.
PlanningAssist and PlanningConsult both answer this way.
The method is designed to apply to any rulebook, like HR policy.
PlanningAssist is a planning question tool in the Planning Handbook family, free to ask and in beta. Ask in plain English, add your postcode, and it answers from your local plan and national policy — with numbered sources you can open and read yourself.
[1]Local Plan
[2]NPPF
[3]GPDO
Ask in plain English.
A plain-English answer.
Numbered sources you can open and read yourself.
How it answers
- AskDescribe the project the way you’d explain it to a neighbour.
- GroundIt finds the local plan and national policy that apply where you are.
- SourceThe answer lists where each point comes from.
347 of 361 planning authorities (96%).
When it can’t answer
If the policy it can find doesn’t cover the question, it says so rather than guessing.
How the answers stay honest
It answers the way all our planning work does: only from the passages it finds, with a numbered source for every point.
Read the method →Your postcode tells it which planning authority, and which nation’s policy, applies.
Checked rules
Common householder questions are answered from rule cards that we check against the legislation in advance.
Free to ask. assist.planninghandbook.com
Like Planning Handbook, it doesn’t make planning decisions, give legal advice or guarantee outcomes.
- ReadPlanning Handbook ↗Guidance
- AskPlanningAssistBeta
- CheckPlanningConsultIn development
Read the guidance, ask PlanningAssist, then check the site.
Questions
Questions about PlanningAssist
Email hello@freestart.ai, ring 0330 223 8390 or use the contact page.
What is PlanningAssist?
PlanningAssist is a planning question tool in the Planning Handbook family. You ask in plain English and add your postcode, and it answers from your local plan and national policy, with numbered sources you can open and read yourself. It is free to ask and in beta, which means it’s public and still changing.
How does PlanningAssist find the right policy?
It looks the policy up before it answers. Your postcode tells it which planning authority, and which nation’s policy, applies. It then searches policy passages by meaning and by exact keywords, balancing local and national results, and writes the answer only from the passages it finds, with a numbered source for every point.
Does PlanningAssist show where its answers come from?
Yes. Every point in an answer cites a numbered source, and you can open each source and read it yourself. Sources include the local plan and national policy for your nation. If the policy it can find doesn’t cover the question, PlanningAssist says so rather than guessing.
What are rule cards in PlanningAssist?
Rule cards cover common householder questions. We check them against the legislation in advance, and PlanningAssist answers those common questions from them. Other questions are answered from the local plan and national policy passages it finds, each point with a numbered source.
Is PlanningAssist free to use?
Yes, PlanningAssist is free to ask, at assist.planninghandbook.com. It is in beta, which means it’s public and still changing. Like Planning Handbook, it doesn’t make planning decisions, give legal advice or guarantee outcomes, so read the policy it cites before you rely on an answer.