Planning Applications API Docs

Common evaluator requests

These are the request shapes most teams test first when comparing UK planning data APIs.

curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/applications?council=adur&page=1&limit=5" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/applications?date_from=2026-08-28&date_to=2026-08-28&limit=100" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/applications?postcode=SW1A&status=Approved&limit=25" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/applications/nearby?lat=51.4975&lng=-0.1278&radius_km=1" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

Authentication

Pass your API key in the X-API-Key header. You can also use Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY.

X-API-Key: pw_live_a1b2c3d4e5f6...

Errors

All errors return JSON with an error field and an appropriate HTTP status code.

Webhook deliveries do not count against the request allowance. API reads, lookups, exports, and backfill requests do.

Pagination

All list endpoints return a meta object. Use ?page=2&limit=50 to paginate. Paid plans can request up to 100 records per page. Free keys are capped at 10 records per page and older sample data.

"meta": {
  "total":  4821,  // total matching records
  "page":   1,     // current page (1-indexed)
  "limit":  25,    // records per page
  "pages":  242    // total pages
}

Freshness & dates

PlanWire exposes source-check freshness and application-date freshness separately. lastScrapedAt means the source was checked or refreshed. It should not be treated on its own as proof that new application records were ingested.

For data recency, use latestApplicationDate on councils and dates.applicationDate on applications. Application lists are sorted by applicationDate desc, firstSeenAt desc by default.

"freshness": {
  "sourceCheckStatus": "fresh",
  "dataStatus":        "stale",
  "lastScrapedAt":     "2026-05-01T09:20:00.000Z",
  "latestApplicationDate": "2026-03-12"
}

Rate limits

Limits reset at midnight UTC. Exceeding the limit returns 429. Free access is a sandbox: 25 calls/day, older sample records, limited council preview, no webhooks, and no fresh planning data.

List planning applications. Parameters can be combined for council, postcode, date-window, status, decision and keyword workflows. Each application includes council, source, freshness, UPRN property identity where available, decision first-seen, and document metadata so you can verify where the record came from and join it to property datasets.

Query Parameters

curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/applications?council=adur&q=extension&status=Approved&limit=5" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

Find applications within a radius using PostGIS spatial indexing. Extremely fast even over millions of records.

curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/applications/nearby?lat=51.4975&lng=-0.1278&radius_km=1" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

Fetch a single planning application by its UUID. Includes source metadata, document links where available, and current light planning context: EA flood zone plus Land Registry sold prices for the postcode.

# Take the id from a search response and fetch the full record
curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/applications/$APPLICATION_ID" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

Application ids are internal and can change if a record is re-ingested from its council. If you need a stable handle, use the council reference lookup below — a council's own reference does not change, so it is the right thing to store against your own records.

Application object

Every field returned on an application record. Field names are camelCase in JSON responses. Fields marked | null are absent or null where the source authority does not publish them — coverage varies by council, so treat any single field as optional.

Planning flags for a batch of postcodes, for filtering a property index before deciding what is worth opening. Returns whether each postcode has any planning history, whether any of it was refused, and when it was last decided — without returning the underlying records.

Metered per property, not per request. A batch of 400 postcodes costs 400 against your daily allowance. Duplicate postcodes are collapsed before charging, so you are not billed twice for the same answer.

Request Body

Batch size by plan

curl -X POST "https://api.planwire.io/v1/property/flags" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "postcodes": ["SW1A 1AA", "LS10 1BS", "M1 1AE"]
  }'

Response

Every requested postcode gets a row, including ones with no planning history — that is the answer that lets you skip a property. hasRefusal reads the normalised decision_outcome, not council decision text, so it means the same thing in every authority.

{
  "data": [
    {
      "postcode":            "SW1A 1AA",
      "hasApplication":      true,
      "hasRefusal":          false,
      "lastDecisionDate":    "2025-11-04",
      "lastApplicationDate": "2025-08-19",
      "applicationCount":    12
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "requested":            3,
    "charged":              3,   // charged per postcode, after duplicates collapse
    "duplicatesCollapsed":  0,
    "invalidCount":         0,
    "callsToday":           431
  }
}

Fetch an application using the council's own reference number (e.g. 24/01234/FUL). Single-application reads also include optional property context, flood risk and nearby sold prices where available.

curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/applications/ref/adur/AWDM%2F0158%2F25" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

List council source records and freshness metadata. Paid plans receive full coverage; free keys receive a limited preview.

{
  "data": [{
    "id":               "adu",
    "name":             "Adur District Council",
    "portalType":       "official",
    "applicationCount": 874
  }]
}

Get a single council's details including the date of the most recent application.

curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/councils/adu" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

List all webhooks registered to your API key.

Subscribe to planning application events. You'll receive an HTTP POST to your URL whenever a matching application is new or updated. Developer keys can create one active webhook scoped to a council or postcode prefix. Production supports up to 100 webhooks, including national coverage; Business supports national webhook workflows subject to fair use.

Request Body

curl -X POST "https://api.planwire.io/v1/webhooks" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://your-app.com/hooks/planning",
    "filters": {
      "postcodePrefix": "SW1",
      "status": "Approved"
    }
  }'

Webhook Payload

Requests are signed with HMAC-SHA256 — verify using the X-PlanWire-Signature header.

{
  "event":       "application.new",   // or "application.updated"
  "timestamp":   "2025-03-19T14:23:01Z",
  "application": { /* full application object */ }
}

The application.updated event is emitted when PlanWire stores a changed record, including document links or titles when the authority source supplies a changed non-empty document list.

Verifying signatures

Compute HMAC-SHA256(secret, rawBody) and compare to the X-PlanWire-Signature header value (after stripping the sha256= prefix).

import { createHmac } from 'crypto';

function verify(secret, rawBody, sigHeader) {
  const expected = 'sha256=' + createHmac('sha256', secret)
    .update(rawBody).digest('hex');
  return sigHeader === expected;
}

import hmac, hashlib

def verify(secret, raw_body, sig_header):
    expected = 'sha256=' + hmac.new(
        secret.encode(), raw_body, hashlib.sha256
    ).hexdigest()
    return hmac.compare_digest(sig_header, expected)

Remove a webhook by its UUID.

Send a test event to verify your endpoint is reachable and your signature verification works.

curl -X POST "https://api.planwire.io/v1/webhooks/YOUR_WEBHOOK_ID/test" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

View the last 50 delivery attempts for a webhook — useful for debugging failed deliveries.

{
  "data": [{
    "id":          "a3f2...",
    "event":       "application.new",
    "statusCode":  200,
    "success":     true,
    "createdAt":   "2025-03-19T14:23:01Z"
  }]
}

List failed delivery attempts since an ISO date so your system can re-fetch those records and repair local state. Deliveries are attempted three times within a few seconds, then logged rather than retried indefinitely.

curl "https://api.planwire.io/v1/webhooks/YOUR_WEBHOOK_ID/missed?since=2026-09-01T00:00:00Z" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"