For architects & architectural practices
Know the planning picture
before you price the job.
Comparable precedent, enforcement history, conservation constraints and pre-application intelligence — retrieved from portals that block every standard search tool. Before RIBA Stage 1. Before you commit design fees.
The feasibility stage intelligence gap
You cannot price the job
until you know what the site carries.
Every AONB commission, every conservation area project, every Article 4 restricted site — the planning record shapes what's possible, what's precedented, and what your client's realistic expectations should be. Standard searches don't reach it.
Before pre-application
Know how the conservation officer has interpreted comparable cases nearby. What comparable consents have been approved. What the LPA has consistently refused — and why. Walk into the pre-app meeting briefed.
Before you price the commission
A site with unresolved enforcement history, an Article 4 Direction or a heritage setting constraint changes the design brief, the fee structure and the programme. Find out before you commit drawing time — not after.
Before your client exchanges
Many architects are brought in post-offer but pre-exchange. A planning history report at this stage — positioned as part of your feasibility service — protects your client, your advice and your reputation.
Live case · North Wales AONB · architect commissioned · anonymised
The portal blocks every tool.
We pulled the full cluster in minutes.
This is what pre-application intelligence retrieval looks like in practice — on a site that standard search tools cannot reach.
Full site intelligence · Denbighshire AONB · £249 · under 24 hoursReal outcome
The barrier: Denbighshire runs on Civica Portal 360 — blocks all automated access at DNS level. Every standard planning search tool stops here. Our proprietary systems queried the live database directly, retrieving 1,000+ records across the postcode cluster before the architect's pre-application meeting.
→Comparable precedent found: Two consents within 800m with near-identical AONB policy position — including officer wording on scale, massing and heritage setting. Directly usable as comparable argument in the pre-application submission.
→Enforcement history retrieved: A 2007 Certificate of Lawfulness withdrawal — the lawful dwelling status of the subject property had never been confirmed. Material to the design brief and to the client's decision to proceed.
→Title constraints surfaced: A 1949 National Trust covenant and a 1982 Secretary of State restriction — both outside any planning portal, both material to any development proposal on the site.
→Strategic direction: Refusal pattern in the cluster identified a specific policy test the practice could address directly in the design approach — before a line was drawn.
What we extract
Behind the portal.
Across the neighbourhood.
We don't stop at what the portal returns. We reach back into legacy systems, committee archives, title registers and enforcement records — and map the full planning landscape around the site.
🔐
Portal bypass tooling
Proprietary systems that query live portals directly — including those with DNS-level blocks, JS-rendered systems, and session-based access controls that defeat every standard tool.
📊
Full cluster & neighbourhood
Every application in the postcode cluster — approved, refused and withdrawn. Comparable precedent identified, officer wording extracted, patterns mapped across decades.
📁
Committee PDF archives
Officer reports, committee meeting minutes, vote records, conditions in full. The arguments that worked and the ones that did not. Never in a standard search.
📋
Land Registry title analysis
Full title — covenants, restrictive conditions, access rights, registered charges. The constraints portals never show but that materially affect every case.
⚠️
Enforcement records
Live enforcement notices, planning contravention notices, stop notices. Pre-merger authority records. History that portals do not always surface but that materially affects every case.
→
Strategic direction
We read the data and tell you what it means. Where the LPA has consistently refused and why. What the comparable consents say about a viable route. Ranked and delivered.
We work across all designation types
How architects use it
Three ways it fits
your project workflow.
Option 1
You commission it for your own briefing
Before the pre-application meeting. Before Stage 1 begins. Before you advise your client on feasibility or programme. The intelligence sits in your file, shapes your advice, and protects your position.
Option 2
You present it to your client under your brand
We deliver white-label. Your client receives a Planning Decoder report bearing your practice name — as part of your feasibility service, billed at your rate. The intelligence capability is yours. The production is ours.
Option 3
You refer clients to us directly
We are building a network of recommended professionals. We refer clients to architects by region when our reports identify a situation needing proper design advice. No cost, no commitment — and your clients can commission directly and share the report with you.
Pricing
Walk into the pre-app meeting
with the comparables they don't expect you to have.
Single report — retail
Site Intelligence Report
£149–£249
Simple to complex · 48 hours
Payment by Stripe before we start
- Full portal extraction — including blocked and legacy systems
- Withdrawn applications — CLEUDs, lawfulness, prior approval
- Enforcement records — all authorities including pre-merger
- Land Registry title — covenants, restrictions, conditions
- Postcode cluster — all comparable decisions nearby
- Committee PDF archive — officer reports, vote records
- Professional PDF report — white-label available
Architectural practices & project-based commissions
Running regular projects?Practice pricing looks different.
| Single report | £149–249 | Pay before we start |
| 4+ reports/month | from £50 | Per report, volume rate |
| White-label | Included | At volume |
Commission a site intelligence report →White-label and per-project arrangements discussed after your first report.
See the depth before you commission
Download a sample report.
Real intelligence from real cases. This is exactly what we produce.
Planning guides for architects
Understand the constraints
before you design around them.
Conservation areas — what they mean for design
What permitted development rights are removed, how conservation officers apply policy, and what the planning record reveals about how a specific LPA interprets character and appearance.
Read guide →
Article 4 Directions — how to check and what they remove
How Article 4 Directions remove permitted development rights and why they matter for residential conversion and extension projects in sensitive areas.
Read guide →
Pre-application advice — when it is worth paying for
What pre-application advice actually means, when to use it, what it costs, and what the planning record should tell you first before you spend on a formal pre-app.
Read guide →
Cluster analysis — using comparable decisions in your strategy
How to find and use local comparable decisions — approved, refused and withdrawn — to build a precedent argument before pre-application or application stage.
Read guide →
Green Belt and AONB — intelligence before you advise
The withdrawn applications, officer wording and comparable decisions that shape defensible advice on Green Belt and AONB development cases.
Read guide →
Committee minutes — the richest intelligence source
The reasoning behind decisions, not just the outcome. How to access committee PDF archives and what they reveal about how an LPA applies its policies in practice.
Read guide →
Listed building consent — what works require it
Works to a listed building without consent are a criminal offence. What requires consent, what does not, and how to identify the heritage constraints before the brief is set.
Read guide →
Barn conversion — Class Q and the prior approval route
Class Q is the permitted development route for converting agricultural buildings. The agricultural history of the building is the critical factor — and it requires a records check.
Read guide →
Intelligence reports produced by Sierra21 Software Studio — the team behind Planning Decoder. Proprietary extraction systems that query planning portals at a depth most professionals cannot access manually.