AN EDINBURGH tech whizz has taken his AI-powered planning tool, built to assess developments locally, nationwide.
HARRY Williams, 26, has spent more than a year building City Scope, a tool which he hopes can keep people better informed about planning and provide an X-Ray into the paperwork.
The tool automatically scrapes planning applications in the capital, generates a summary, and places them on a map of the city.
City Scope also rates developments on a scale of 1 to 10 by how much ‘impact on the local area’ the application would have based on the information available.
This makes sifting through short-term lets, changes of use, and major developments far more accessible than on the city’s planning portal.
Williams has now decided to expand his website nationwide in a move that he hopes will make planning in Scotland more transparent.
Users can now navigate the website to view planning applications in all 32 Scottish local authority areas.
Searches can also be filtered by expected impact, development category, date, and specific street or postcode.
Mr Williams said he “originally started City Scope to make planning applications in Edinburgh easier to find, understand and review.
“I think its important people have transparency around the developments being proposed in their area.
“Over time, I’ve been able to expand the project out to cover all of Scotland, and I hope the rest of Scotland can see the benefits of the project too.”
He added: “The idea is that people can use it to find planning applications around them and understand what’s being proposed, without needing to know much about the planning process.
“I want to make it easier for people to keep up with what’s happening locally, whether that’s something on their own street or a larger development in their area.”
With planning news in the spotlight nationally, amid a major backlash to large-scale data centre developments and a pause to such schemes, Williams said he hopes his site can make major applications more digestible.
“I also want to surface more nationally significant projects, including things like data centres,” he explained.
“I think communities should have transparency around these larger projects too and be able to easily understand what’s being proposed.”
While Williams said this marks a “major chapter” in the development of City Scope, he cautioned that there is still a “great deal” of work to do engaging communities in planning news.
He said: “I plan on working more on the community aspects of the platform over the next few months, to really allow local communities to understand and discuss what’s happening around them.
“I think there is still a great deal of work to do here, especially for communities that lack something like a community council or somewhere to have those discussions.”
Starting his career with a modern apprenticeship, Williams has worked at estate agents Rettie since the pandemic, progressing from the company’s reception and portfolio administration section to its automation and systems team.
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