AI and satellites speed up planning approvals by tracking wild habitats across England
Source: gov.uk (2025-02-10)

New records reveal the government is utilising AI and technology to enhance public services, including streamlining MOT inspections and speeding up planning with satellite habitat mapping.

- New records reveal how government is using AI and tech to deliver for the public – including by streamlining MOT garage inspections and using satellite habitat mapping to speed up planning
- Comes alongside practical tips to help public sector build tech to speed up decision making and transform services for working people - delivering the Plan for Change
- Guidance shares top tips from development of GOV.UK Chat and other advanced tech on using safeguards to ensure the tech works in the public’s interest
AI and satellite images are being used to predict how natural habitats are changing across the country, so more current data can be used to accelerate planning proposals and stop NIMBYism getting in the way of growth and the Plan for Change (https://www.gov.uk/missions).

Satellite images and machine learning – a type of AI – are being used by Natural England to build a detailed map of “Living England (https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/3a87c13c-1303-4452-9da4-5bb0ce84667f/living-england-2022-23)”, showing the current extent of habitats across the country. Rather than the manual surveys of the past, changes to English habitats will now be tracked more efficiently and across the country – speeding up decisions around planning and land use while better protecting nature.

Details of the project are being released today alongside 13 other examples of how AI and algorithmic tools are used to speed up decision making and improve public services – spanning examples including how AI is being used to better predict the weather and keep standards high at MOT testing centres.

A new AI Playbook, published today, gives public sector technical experts top tips and guiding principles on how to replicate this work and build AI to help their organisations fix services for citizens – ultimately delivering on the government’s ambition to transform public services with AI.

Civil servants are guided on how to buy and manage the development of AI technology in their departments and encouraged to work with AI companies closely so the technology can be put to work more quickly.

Today’s announcement comes as world leaders gather for the AI Action Summit in Paris, and follow’s the publication of the UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-opportunities-action-plan/ai-opportunities-action-plan), which has put the UK on course to revolutionise public services and become an AI superpower – already attracting over £14 billion in investment since launching just last month.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

Every corner of the public sector can be using technology to save money, speed things up, and crucially, improve public services for people across the UK, driving our Plan for Change forward.

The publication of our AI Playbook today comes with a call to arms for tech specialists across the public sector – use the guidance we are sharing to put AI to work in your organisations at whiplash speed, so we can repair our broken public services together.

Natural England’s Chief Scientist, Professor Sallie Bailey said:

Nature restoration, development and economic growth are not opposing forces - they can and must work together to create a sustainable future for both people and wildlife.

Our Living England project is harnessing the power of AI to inform and support planning decisions far more efficiently. This means we can make the biggest impact for Nature recovery, while helping to deliver the new homes and infrastructure the country needs.

The AI Playbook, published by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, outlines ten principles civil servants building AI should follow, making sure they:

Have meaningful human control at the right stages, so any decisions recommended by technology can be monitored properly, and changed rapidly if needed.

Choose the right tool for the right job and avoid using AI where more basic technology can fulfil the same task.

Work with teams responsible for buying technology right from the start, to make sure agreements struck with private sector companies can be utilised to maximum potential in this rapidly evolving market.

The Playbook also insists that public servants working with AI do so openly and collaboratively, making sure the public know how technology is being used and allowing other public sector organisations to benefit from work that has already taken place.

Other records being released today detail how the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) uses AI to prioritise which of the 23,000 active MOT testing garages should receive an inspection next.

Producing a traffic light rating for every garage, the AI tool takes in data from MOT tests to spot anomalies and identify which garages should be checked first, so inspectors can confirm they are working to crucial safety standards. Previously, inspections were based only on the amount of time that had passed since the last check.

Today’s release follows the Technology Secretary publishing the blueprint for a modern digital government (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-blueprint-for-modern-digital-government/a-blueprint-for-modern-digital-government-html#section-5), setting out how his department will use AI and technology to help the public sector improve their services and target £45 billion in potential efficiency savings every year. This is as well as announcing a bundle of tools to be known as “Humphrey” and set to be made available to all civil servants soon.

Among other things, the tools will help civil servants assess responses to consultations, take minutes at meetings and analyse decades of debate from the Houses of Parliament.

Notes to editors

Find the AI Playbook here (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-playbook-for-the-uk-government).

The full list of Algorithmic Transparency Records (https://www.gov.uk/algorithmic-transparency-records) being published today is as follows.

Met Office (DSIT)

Weather and climate forecasting: A combination of multiple different algorithmic tools used to produce weather forecasts.

Natural England (Defra)

Living England map: Habitat mapping for the whole of England using satellite imagery, targeted field survey and machine learning.

DVSA (DfT)

MOT Risk Rating: An algorithmic to identify potential non-compliance in MOT testing, and prioritise visits to MOT garages.

Wilton Park

Data Cleaning Tool: Enables compliance with The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by identifying and automatically cleaning personal data from the Wilton Park customer database.

OSCB (DBT)

Interest Calculator: Assists small business owners to calculate the amount of interest due on an overdue invoice.

National Highways (DfT)

Highways webchat: provides customers with an additional communication channel to get immediate answers to their questions using publicly available information (such as traffic information).

DSIT: GOV.UK site search

The search engine for GOV.UK. It enables users to search for information and services on GOV.UK by entering a search query to view results that are relevant to their query.

NHS Business Services Authority (DHSC)

Residency Checker for EHIC/GHIC/PRC: A process to support confirmation of UK residency for entitlement to healthcare in an European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Employment and Support Allowance Online Medical Matching: A tool which helps Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) officials process claims more quickly.

Money and Pensions Service (MaPs)

Budget Planner: A free online tool that helps users track and categorize their spending, provides a detailed breakdown of their finances, and offers personalized tips to improve their money management.

Money and Pensions Service (MaPs)

Redundancy Pay Calculator: Online tool designed to help individuals who have been or are at risk of being made redundant understand their legal rights, calculate their potential redundancy pay, assess their financial situation, and explore available benefits and support.

Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

The Effective Proposal Framework: Used by Probation Practitioners at pre-sentence stage and as part of pre-release planning to identify requirements, licence conditions and interventions for individuals based on their risk and need profile.

Health Research Authority (DHSC)

Proportionate Review Toolkit: A toolkit to help Research Ethics Committee applicants determine whether their project would be eligible for proportionate review.

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

Logo Detection and Classification Toolkit: A tool to detect unauthorised uses of HMRC’s logo.

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