Open Digital Planning: Month 7

As we approach the end of the year, December has been a period of steady, quiet progress. While the team has been balancing end-of-year duties and taking well-deserved leave for the holiday season, we have continued to push forward with our essential dataset work.

Data Successes: Mapping and Milestones

Despite the seasonal slowdown, we have achieved some significant technical milestones that set a strong foundation for the New Year.

• Listed Buildings Ready for Launch: We have successfully completed the mapping process for our Listed Buildings. The dataset is now fully prepared; the final upload will be completed as soon as we confirm a fix for the technical issues identified last month.

• The TPO Marathon: Work on our Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) continues. This remains our most substantial dataset, and we are diligently scanning paper documents and aligning data points across our systems to ensure high quality and completeness.
• Team Growth: We are pleased to confirm further vacant role recruitment within the Planning team. This additional resource will be vital in managing workloads as we move further into our digital transformation.
• Community Insights: Our Business Analyst attended the recent ODP day. It was an insightful session, and the learnings gathered will be shared with the wider team in January once everyone returns from the break.

The Challenges: Navigating Constraints

Transparency remains a core value of our project, and it is important to note the hurdles we are currently navigating.

• Upload Limitations: The technical issue regarding dataset upload endpoints has not yet been resolved. We are currently awaiting feedback and guidance from the ODP team to implement a permanent fix.
• Resource Capacity: The combination of the holiday season and pressing end-of-year BAU tasks has naturally diverted some time away from ODP-specific work. We have accepted this seasonal dip in pace to allow the team a much-needed break.

What’s Next?

Our focus remains sharp as we look toward a busy January:

• Listed Buildings: We are targeting 31 January 2026, for the final upload of the Listed Buildings dataset.
• TPO Cleansing: We will continue the massive task of digitising and cleansing our TPO records.
• Collaboration: We plan to organize a Plan X demo and follow up on professional connections made during recent ODP events to share further learnings.

Happy holidays, and we look forward to sharing more progress in 2026!