How do I find UK companies that filed a planning application?

There is no single complete national search for planning applications by applicant. Each local planning authority holds its own register, and the government's national planning data service is still being built. In practice you search the relevant council portals, note the applicant's name, then match it to a company at Companies House. A planning filing is useful to a seller because it is an early sign that a business is expanding, moving or changing use of a site.

Where the records are

England is covered by local planning authorities, each with a public register of applications on its council website. The national planning.data.gov.uk service collects planning and housing data from those authorities into a consistent form and is open to anyone to view and download. Its own pages say it is still in development and that data may not yet be complete, so do not assume that a missing entry means no application.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own planning systems and portals, so a UK-wide search means working through more than one. Local registers differ in layout and search fields.

How to match an applicant to a company

Applications give an applicant or intermediary name, a site address and a description of the proposal. The applicant is often a trading company, but it may be a person, a landlord or a property vehicle. Search the name at Companies House, then confirm the registered office or trading address against the site. Check directors, because the same people often sit behind several entities.

Be careful with intermediaries. A planning consultant's name on the form is not the buyer you want. The occupier is usually the one who will need furniture, insurance, staff, security or cleaning.

Which applications signal a reason to call

Change of use to commercial premises, new industrial or warehouse units, extensions and new signage suggest a business is taking or changing space. Householder applications rarely matter for B2B. Timing matters: a submission is the earliest signal; a decision comes weeks or months later; the move often follows after that.

Doing it at scale

Checking hundreds of councils by hand is not practical for a small team. Lockley reads planning registers each night alongside Companies House, Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, job postings and company websites, and links each finding to the record it came from. In September 2026 it recorded 2,421 new premises or operating centres across 2,069 UK companies, and in the week to 9 October 2026, 63 new sites against 39 the week before. These counts reflect what Lockley records, not every application filed in the UK.

What to say on the call

Cite the record, not a guess. Something like: I saw the application for the unit on the industrial estate, are you taking it on? is better than a generic opener, because it shows you did your homework and lets the buyer correct you. Keep the reference number to hand. If the application was refused or withdrawn, the call may still be useful, but the conversation is different.

Remember that planning is only one signal. A company that files a planning application, has just advertised a role at manager level and above and has a new charge registered is giving three signals of the same story: growth. Combining records is how you rank which of many applications deserves the first call.

Questions