Tag: Artificial intelligence

AI Will Add To, Rather Than Reduce, Planning Delays Unless We Do Something About It

There was that boosterish press statement from the prime minister, PM unveils AI breakthrough to slash planning delays and help build 1.5 million homes: 9 June 2025. I’ve read it a few times, along with, for instance, the more detailed MHCLG Digital blog post, Extract: Using AI to unlock historic planning data (12 June 2025).

The “Extract” tool is targeted to be available for local authorities by next Spring to enable the easier digitisation of old planning documents and maps. Useful as it may be (“revolutionary”! “breakthrough”! “cutting-edge technology”!):

  • to talk this up as the way to “slash planning delays and help build 1.5 million homes” is, shall we say, pushing it; and
  • for the avoidance of doubt it should not be at the expense of us all being able to interrogate copies of the original documentation (memories of the transfer of authorities’ planning records to microfiche files – many an unhappy hour spent at those dreaded microfiche machines -and of whole swathes of planning records that have mysteriously disappeared as a result of, for instance, past waves of local government reorganisation).

In my 20 October 2024 blog post, Together In Electric Dreams I referred to some of the other technical advances which may help, and of course the legislation now enacted via the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to set common data standards. The submission deadline has also just closed for MHCLG’s Geovation PropTech Innovation Challenge, where up to 12 companies will share in £1.2 million to develop solutions “to accelerate the delivery of 1.5 million homes in England through scalable PropTech solutions, and make a measurable impact on the yearly target of 300,000 new homes”.

However, are we sufficiently focused on the risks that AI ends up adding to, rather than, reducing planning delays, in particular though enabling submission by applicants and objectors alike of over-long and sometimes inaccurate material?

Lawyers will be well aware of the salutary case of R (Ayinde) v London Borough of Haringey (Dame Victoria Sharp and Johnson J, 6 June 2025), where a junior barrister, Sarah Foley, prepared grounds for judicial review which cited five cases which do not exist. Her evidence to the court was that “when she drafted the grounds she “may also have carried out searches on Google or Safari” and that she may have taken account of artificial intelligence generated summaries of the results (without realising what they were)”. The barrister was instructed by the Haringey Law Centre, whose solicitor and chief executive, Victor Amadigwe, gave evidence that: “Haringey Law Centre relies heavily on the expertise of specialist counsel. It has not been its practice to verify the accuracy of case citations or to check the genuineness of authorities relied on by counsel. It had not occurred to either Ms Hussain or Mr Amadigwe that counsel would rely on authorities that do not exist. When Haringey Council raised concerns about the five authorities, Ms Hussain and Mr Amadigwe wrote to Ms Forey and asked her to provide copies of the cases. Ms Forey did not do so, but she did provide the wording for the email that Ms Hussain sent on 5 March 2025. In the light of that wording, Ms Hussain and Mr Amadigwe did not appreciate that the five cases that had been cited were fake – they wrongly thought that there were minor errors in the citations which would be corrected before the court. Ms Hussain denies that Ms Forey told her that she had been unable to find the cases. It was only at the hearing before Ritchie J that they realised that the authorities did not exist. Mr Amadigwe has now given instructions to all his colleagues within Haringey Law Centre that all citations referred to by any counsel must be checked.”

The court decided not to instigate contempt proceedings against those involved but set out matters which required further consideration by the lawyers’ respective regulatory bodies.

The court’s judgment has these important passages on the use of artificial intelligence in court proceedings:

“4. Artificial intelligence is a powerful technology. It can be a useful tool in litigation, both civil and criminal. It is used for example to assist in the management of large disclosure exercises in the Business and Property Courts. A recent report into disclosure in cases of fraud before the criminal courts has recommended the creation of a cross-agency protocol covering the ethical and appropriate use of artificial intelligence in the analysis and disclosure of investigative material. Artificial intelligence is likely to have a continuing and important role in the conduct of litigation in the future.

5. This comes with an important proviso however. Artificial intelligence is a tool that carries with it risks as well as opportunities. Its use must take place therefore with an appropriate degree of oversight, and within a regulatory framework that ensures compliance with well-established professional and ethical standards if public confidence in the administration of justice is to be maintained. As Dias J said when referring the case of Al-Haroun to this court, the administration of justice depends upon the court being able to rely without question on the integrity of those who appear before it and on their professionalism in only making submissions which can properly be supported.

6. In the context of legal research, the risks of using artificial intelligence are now well known. Freely available generative artificial intelligence tools, trained on a large language model such as ChatGPT are not capable of conducting reliable legal research. Such tools can produce apparently coherent and plausible responses to prompts, but those coherent and plausible responses may turn out to be entirely incorrect. The responses may make confident assertions that are simply untrue. They may cite sources that do not exist. They may purport to quote passages from a genuine source that do not appear in that source.

7. Those who use artificial intelligence to conduct legal research notwithstanding these risks have a professional duty therefore to check the accuracy of such research by reference to authoritative sources, before using it in the course of their professional work (to advise clients or before a court, for example). Authoritative sources include the Government’s database of legislation, the National Archives database of court judgments, the official Law Reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales and the databases of reputable legal publishers.

8. This duty rests on lawyers who use artificial intelligence to conduct research themselves or rely on the work of others who have done so. This is no different from the responsibility of a lawyer who relies on the work of a trainee solicitor or a pupil barrister for example, or on information obtained from an internet search.

9. We would go further however. There are serious implications for the administration of justice and public confidence in the justice system if artificial intelligence is misused. In those circumstances, practical and effective measures must now be taken by those within the legal profession with individual leadership responsibilities (such as heads of chambers and managing partners) and by those with the responsibility for regulating the provision of legal services. Those measures must ensure that every individual currently providing legal services within this jurisdiction (whenever and wherever they were qualified to do so) understands and complies with their professional and ethical obligations and their duties to the court if using artificial intelligence. For the future, in Hamid hearings such as these, the profession can expect the court to inquire whether those leadership responsibilities have been fulfilled.”

The internet is becoming increasingly unreliable – and the introduction of Google AI at the top of any set of search results, certainly doesn’t help

Surely, much of this advice is equally relevant to the planning system. As referred to in my  20 October 2024 blog post we have the Planning Inspectorate’s guidance on the use of artificial intelligence in casework evidence. How is this being policed in practice? And what of submissions made by applicants and objectors at application stage? I was pleased to see this piece: Local authorities need to ‘get wise’ to residents using AI to object to planning applications, warns GLA digital lead (Planning Resource, 12 June 2025 – behind paywall):

“The GLA’s head of change and delivery Peter Kemp told Planning’s Planning Summit yesterday (Wednesday 11 June) that “part of really successfully planning towns and cities is having the confidence of our residents”.

While digital planning brings a variety of “really exciting and positive” benefits , unless authorities start to think about the risks of AI they are “going to lose the confidence of their residents”.

One example of this is “how many people are using AI to produce objection letters to planning applications and misquoting case law as a result”, said Kemp.

“As local authorities, we need to get really wise to this and we need to start thinking about the impact of that in how we operate and how we build the confidence of junior officers to really operate in that space as well”, he added.

Kemp also noted that as a result of digital planning, the role of monitoring officers across London over the last five years “has fundamentally changed”.

Historically, monitoring officers would be responsible for manually supplying data on thousands of applications a year, but “now that stuff happens automatically, so their role has changed to check the quality of the data”, he said.”

I wonder how many authorities have followed the approach of North Norfolk Council which now has specific reference to the use of artificial intelligence in its local validation list?

The reality is surely that we are all collectively sleepwalking.

Worryingly, there is a cottage industry in online firms offering AI platforms to generate planning objections:

Or people can obviously use the tools themselves, generating lengthy, superficially well-written prose, with numerous legal, policy and/or factual references to be verified. This ultimately helps no-one, least of all those putting their trust in these tools.

And the issue is not just with text but of course images too – see Iceni’s Rebecca Davy’s 10 June 2025 blog post AI tools are reshaping how we read the past – how can heritage consultants help to keep the records straight?

Rather than relying on authorities individually to set out guidance for anyone submitting documents for reliance in the operation of the planning system, wouldn’t it be better for firm guidance to be set down centrally by MHCLG, using as a basis the Planning Inspectorate’s current guidance?

  • When should use of AI be declared in relation to any submitted material?
  • What is and isn’t AI for these purposes? (Predictive text,  proof reading and document transcription tools? More traditional web searches?)
  • What is the responsibility of person submitting the material to check the accuracy of the material, including underlying sources relied upon, and what should be the potential consequences if this is not done?
  • In any event, as I have been saying for so long, why do we not have indicative word and file size limits for different categories of material? Nearly every document submitted by anyone is simply too long and AI will exacerbate the issue. Now is the opportunity!

NB as always, in preparing this post I have had to avoid, for instance, WordPress’s “writing assistance” tool and, in uploading the images, the opportunity offered by Microsoft to “create an image using AI“. I get it why tools like this are increasingly popular but, without guardrails as to their use in connection with every element of the planning system, one thing is for sure: our jobs are going to become harder, not easier.

Simon Ricketts, 22 June 2025

Personal views, et cetera

You Can Call Me AI

Like most real humans, Chat GPT doesn’t really know how the planning system works, although it thinks it does, is plausible to the uninitiated and is going to learn fast. 

“Describe the scene at the opening of a planning inquiry in the style of Martin Amis”

“The overcast morning yawned drearily as the austere gates of justice swung open, reluctantly welcoming a procession of concerned citizens, bureaucrats, and legal enthusiasts into the cavernous embrace of the planning inquiry. The venue, a drab municipal hall adorned with faded civic emblems and stained carpeting, echoed with the collective sigh of resignation.

The attendees, a motley crew of disparate interests and insatiable curiosities, shuffled in, each sporting a distinct sartorial display of subdued professionalism. Men in ill-fitted suits, replete with the sullen faces of reluctant labor, mingled with bespectacled women clutching notepads with an air of anticipatory dread. The atmosphere was thick with the scent of worn leather, a pallid reminder of past struggles fought and victories scarce won.

The weary acoustics of the room trembled as the chairman’s gavel thundered, reluctantly arousing the assembled multitude from their communal stupor. A bespectacled figure emerged from the shadows, his furrowed brow betrayed by a sparse crown of graying hair, a testament to the inevitable encroachment of time upon the human visage. He cleared his throat with a noise resembling a desolate gust of wind sweeping through a forgotten corridor, demanding the attention that was reluctantly offered.

Chairman and gavels aside, it’s not going to be long folks (and of course it is already being used for various specific functions – see this piece), so we need to be on top of how it can be used to improve development outcomes and lead to genuine efficiencies, whilst being on guard against its misuse. Could you spot a Chat GPT generated objection letter? This was its response to the request for an objection letter to a proposed solar farm, free and it took about a second. Imagine how it might then be plausibly tweaked and sent, many times over. How are planning officers going to guard against this?

“Subject: Objection to Proposed Solar Farm near [Your Location]

Dear [Recipient’s Name],

I am writing to express my deep concern and objection to the proposed solar farm project in close proximity to my residence [or: the [specific location]] in [City, State]. While I appreciate the growing need for renewable energy sources and acknowledge the importance of solar power in combating climate change, I believe that the current proposed location poses significant issues and may have adverse effects on the surrounding environment and community.

First and foremost, the proximity of the proposed solar farm to residential areas raises concerns regarding potential impacts on the quality of life for residents. The visual impact of large-scale solar panels and associated infrastructure in close proximity to homes could significantly diminish property values and negatively affect the aesthetic appeal of the area. Moreover, the potential glare caused by the reflective surfaces of solar panels could be intrusive and disruptive to residents, impacting their ability to enjoy their homes and surroundings.

Additionally, I am concerned about the potential environmental impacts associated with the construction and operation of the solar farm. The proposed location may be ecologically sensitive, hosting diverse wildlife habitats or fragile ecosystems that could be disrupted or permanently damaged by the installation of the solar panels and related infrastructure. It is crucial to thoroughly evaluate and mitigate these potential ecological consequences before proceeding with the project.

Furthermore, the proposed solar farm could have implications for the local community’s overall well-being. Construction activities may result in noise pollution, increased traffic congestion, and potential disruptions to daily activities. These factors, combined with the potential decrease in property values, may negatively affect the livelihoods and economic stability of the community.

I strongly urge you to consider alternative locations for the solar farm that are more suitable in terms of minimizing the visual impact on residential areas, preserving environmentally sensitive areas, and minimizing disturbances to the local community. It is crucial to involve the affected residents and community members in the decision-making process through open dialogue, public consultations, and comprehensive environmental impact assessments.

I kindly request that you take my objections into serious consideration and review the proposed solar farm project in light of the concerns raised. I encourage you to explore alternative options that prioritize both renewable energy goals and the well-being of the community and environment.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I trust that you will act in the best interests of the community and ensure that any future renewable energy projects are developed with careful consideration of the concerns raised.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Name]”

I know to us it’s nonsense, no policies no nothing, but if I had been more specific in my request I would have got a more refined draft. And as it stands it’s pretty much par for the course as objection letters go. 

Finally, as a bit of fun, what does Open AI’s Dall-E system think that the scene at a planning inquiry might look like?

The participants:

Not so bad really. But what about the solicitor?

He (an algorithmically assumed white male) is pictured faceless, doodling, writing nonsense:

Or the planning officer?

More white males, one strangely missing a finger on his left hand:

The overall lack of diversity of it all is troubling, as is the sheer lazy ease of generating splurge content – without safeguards (which are needed immediately, not at the speed that the planning system usually works) this could be as harmful for the planning system, in terms of submerging it under prolix and irrelevant content, as word processing technology has been. In fact, in Chat GPT I think I have found the real mutant algorithm. 

Happy bank holiday all. 

Simon Ricketts, 27 May 2023

Personal views, et cetera

A planning inquiry in the style of David Hockney, apparently.