West Oxfordshire and Cotswold cut site assessment time by 90%

West Oxfordshire and Cotswold cut site assessment time by 90%
West Oxfordshire District Council and Cotswold District Council used digital site processing tools to reduce early-stage assessment time.
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
West Oxfordshire District Council and Cotswold District Council tested digital tools to make it quicker and easier to collect, assess and publish information about development sites for their new local plans.
- Outcome: Reduced the time spent digitising, assessing and publishing site information by up to 90%, cutting assessment time from around 10 weeks to 1 week.
- Technology used: Go Vocal, a community engagement platform used for site submissions and engagement, alongside LANDCLAN, a platform used to assess sites and view site data on a map.
This was a PropTech Innovation Fund round 4 pilot (2024) and describes what was tested at the time.
The planning challenge
West Oxfordshire and Cotswold wanted to improve how they managed site submissions and assessed sites while preparing their new local plans.
Both councils had recently carried out a call for sites and early plan consultations. This generated a high volume of site submissions. While this engagement was welcomed, it created challenges in processing data, plotting site boundaries and assessing sites in a timely and consistent way.
The councils wanted to:
- receive site submissions in a consistent digital format
- reduce the time officers spent digitising site boundaries
- support site assessment with better digital analysis alongside professional judgement
- publish site information earlier and in a more accessible format
They wanted to reduce the time spent on these activities, improve the consistency of assessment outputs and publish site information earlier in the process.
What they did
West Oxfordshire and Cotswold tested a combination of digital tools to improve how they submitted, assessed and published sites during plan-making.
The pilot focused on reducing time spent on early, resource-intensive tasks. This included digitising site boundaries, carrying out desk-based assessment and preparing site information for publication.
Improving site submission and registration
The councils identified site submission and registration as a major source of officer time. Through workshops with their supplier, they found that different types of stakeholders submitted sites in different ways. Members of the public were less likely to hold GIS (geographic information system) data, while planning agents and developers often already had digitised site boundaries.
To address this, the councils tested improvements to Go Vocal, their digital consultation platform, that allowed respondents to:
- plot site boundaries directly on an interactive map
- upload spatial data files
- submit site information through structured online forms
These changes meant site boundaries and attribute data were captured digitally at the point of submission. This reduced the need for officers to manually digitise site boundaries before assessment could begin.
Supporting digital site assessment
Once the councils captured site boundaries digitally, they tested LANDCLAN geospatial tools to support desk-based site assessment.
Using these tools, officers could:
- view submitted sites alongside environmental, social and policy datasets
- identify key constraints affecting sites
- generate individual site summaries to support assessment
- filter and shortlist sites for further consideration
Before the pilot, multiple officers carried out desktop site assessment, often using different tools and datasets. During the pilot, a single officer could upload sites, run assessments and generate site summaries using one digital assessment tool.
Using a consistent dataset and assessment interface helped ensure officers assessed sites in the same way. This reduced variation and improved the consistency of assessment outputs.
Officer review and professional judgement
Throughout the pilot, planning officers reviewed site information and assessment outputs. Officers used digital tools to support assessment rather than replace it. Professional judgement remained essential to interpreting constraints, understanding site context and deciding which sites should be taken forward.
Results and impact
At a glance:
- 86% reduction in time spent digitising site boundaries
- site assessment time reduced from around 10 weeks to 1 week
- site information published immediately, rather than after around 20 weeks
Reducing time spent digitising sites
Before the pilot, officers manually digitised site boundaries submitted in a range of formats. By allowing respondents to plot sites directly on an interactive map or upload spatial files, the councils reduced the time spent digitising site boundaries by 86%.
This allowed officers to move more quickly from site submission to assessment.
Reducing time spent assessing sites
Using Go Vocal and LANDCLAN to view sites alongside relevant datasets and generate site summaries, the councils reduced desk-based site assessment time from around 10 weeks to 1 week.
This reduction reflected time saved across tasks such as data gathering, initial analysis and preparing assessment outputs. Professional judgement and site visits continued where needed.
Publishing site information earlier
Previously, the councils typically published site information after assessment work was complete, around 20 weeks into the process. During the pilot, officers could publish site boundaries and constraint information immediately using digital maps.
This allowed officers to share site information earlier and update it as assessment progressed, rather than releasing it as a single static output at the end of the process.
What they learned
West Oxfordshire and Cotswold found that:
- improving site submission at the start of the process saved the most time overall
- capturing site boundaries digitally helped reduce delays later in the process
- having site information in a consistent digital format made assessment quicker and easier to repeat
- digital site summaries helped officers assess large numbers of sites more efficiently
- publishing site information earlier helped move assessment from a single linear process to a more iterative one
The pilot also showed that digital tools work best when they support professional judgement rather than replace it.
Proptech funding has allowed us to transform our whole approach to site assessment work which is such a key aspect of local plan making.
In large rural areas such as West Oxfordshire and Cotswold District, a huge volume of sites are put forward for consideration and assessing their suitability for development has previously been a very labour intensive exercise. Working with our suppliers, we have been able to put in place new processes that have not only improved the quality of our assessment outputs but have shaved a huge amount of time off the process, whilst increasing transparency and engagement with our stakeholders.
Chris Hargraves, Head of Planning, West Oxfordshire District Council
Future plans
West Oxfordshire and Cotswold plan to build on what they learned from the pilot as they continue work on their new local plans.
Both councils plan to continue using digital tools to support site submission, assessment and publishing site information. This includes improving how site data is captured and reused across different stages of plan-making.
The pilot also strengthened collaboration between planning policy and GIS teams in both councils and supported peer learning through joint working with other local authorities.
Help us improve this case study by completing our short feedback form.
Useful resources
Explore tools and suppliers on the Digital Planning Directory.
Read guidance on site identification and assessment using digital tools.
Explore the Open Digital Planning community.
External links on this page are included to help users find relevant information. Their inclusion does not imply government endorsement of any organisation, product or service.