Automate email consultation responses for local plans
Source: gov.uk (2025-02-27)

Optional email automation for Microsoft Outlook that automatically saves local plan consultation responses as a SharePoint database.

This guide explains email automation for Microsoft Outlook. As explained in the City of London case study (https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/using-automation-to-save-time-processing-consultation-responses), it automatically saves unread emails received in response to a local plan consultation in SharePoint, as a database.

To install it, members of the planning team will need help from their local planning authority’s (LPA’s) IT specialists.

Find out what an IT specialist needs to know about setting up the automation in Outlook and how it works. For planners, learn how to use the automation and access the database once it’s set up.

What the automation does

This optional free software automates the copying of content from all unread Outlook emails to a SharePoint database. This can be used for responses during a local plan consultation.

You can export this database as a spreadsheet or CSV file for easy sharing and upload elsewhere.

Once set up, the automation runs once a day and automatically captures or assigns:

the sender’s email address

the date the email was received

the email subject line

a copy of the email text

a link to the email, saved in a SharePoint folder

a link to any attachments

a status

an automatically generated reference number

It can also reply to the sender confirming their email has been received.

Who can use the automation

The automation is for LPAs to use to support their local plan consultation. It is entirely optional and no way necessary for this part of your plan.

Before the automation can be used, it needs to be installed by an IT specialist in the LPA.

A member of the planning team will need the following for an IT specialist to install the automation:

to use the Microsoft 365 suite

to have asked for responses by email on the local plan consultation

a shared email inbox for consultation responses

An IT specialist will also need:

administrator access to SharePoint, or owner access to an existing SharePoint site

administrator access to Microsoft PowerApps

Collaborating to use the automation

IT specialists and members of the planning team need to collaborate to set up and use the email automation.

Planners may need to submit a request to their IT department to have it installed.

The planning and IT teams will need to arrange:

installation and testing

run through and handover

any sign off or permissions ahead of use, including with legal teams

regular maintenance while automation is running

We’ll explain all of these steps in more detail, but we recommend that you take them into account before starting this process.

Try the automation

If you’re an LPA IT specialist, learn how to install the automation (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/it-specialists-automate-processing-of-local-plan-consultation-responses).

For planning team members, find out how to access and export your data (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/planning-teams-access-automated-email-responses-for-local-plan-consultations).

Share your feedback

If you implement the automation yourself, we’d like to hear your feedback and any suggestions for improvement. You can share your thoughts at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Disclaimer

This guidance is provided for general information only. IT systems vary and this guidance cannot cover all possible permutations. Software versions, licencing requirements and charges may also vary. This guidance may be unsuitable for some IT systems. In all cases, LPAs must consult their IT specialists before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of this guidance.

MHCLG cannot guarantee that the contents of this guidance is accurate, complete or up to date.

LPAs must take steps to verify the safety and suitability of any files downloaded from the links in this guidance. MHCLG cannot guarantee that the links and files will be fit for the LPA’s particular purposes or that they are secure and free from bugs, viruses and other malicious code.