Submitting a planning application involves a lot of moving parts. Forms, plans, supporting documents, and each one needs to meet specific requirements before a council will accept it for assessment.

The reality is that around 50% of planning applications are submitted invalid. That means half of all submissions come back before they've even been looked at properly (because of a missing north arrow, an unsigned form, or a document that doesn't quite meet requirements). It costs councils thousands of officer hours each year and it costs applicants time they can't afford to lose.

We built AVA - Planda Portal's Automated Validation Assistant - to help fix that, starting before your application ever reaches a planning team.

Your Assistant, Not Your Gatekeeper

If Planda Portal's AVA has flagged something on your application, we know it can feel frustrating. It's worth understanding what the AI behind it actually is, and what it isn't.

AVA is not a council validation officer. It doesn't make decisions about your application, and it doesn't have the final say on anything. It's a checking tool designed to catch common, fixable issues before submission. The kind of things that, if missed, would come back to you from the council anyway, only later and with more delay.

You stay in control throughout. When AVA flags something, you'll see exactly what it found. You can accept the suggestion, dismiss it, or edit your application - the choice is always yours.

If your application sailed through without any flags, it means AVA found nothing to raise. It goes straight through without interruption.

What AVA Checks

AVA works in two stages: first, it identifies the type of each document you've uploaded. Then, it checks whether that document contains everything it's expected to.

The checks are specific to each document type, because different documents have different requirements. A location plan, for instance, needs a scale, north arrow, red site outline, clear site boundaries, access routes, and existing buildings shown. An application form needs to be signed and dated. A tree plan needs to show tree locations with labels indicating which are to be retained or removed, at the right scale.

What AVA Doesn't Do

AVA currently checks against national planning validation requirements. Local councils can and often do have their own additional rules on top of these.

This means that even if AVA gives your application the all-clear, a council's validation team will still carry out their own independent review. Their assessment may differ from AVA's, and their decision is always final. AVA is not a guarantee of validity, it's a tool to reduce the risk of avoidable issues slipping through.

We're transparent about this because we think it matters: AVA doesn't replace the expertise of planning professionals or council officers. It works alongside them, upstream, to reduce the administrative back-and-forth that slows everything down.

Getting Better Over Time

Every application processed through Planda Portal helps AVA improve. We also learn from issues raised by local authorities, which feeds directly back into how the system develops. Over time, AVA's checks will become more comprehensive, incorporating council-specific requirements, and eventually constraint data like conservation areas and flood zones. We're working on this right now. If you want to get involved, sign up here.

Still Have Questions?

If AVA has flagged something you're unsure about, or you believe a flag has been raised incorrectly, you can dismiss the suggestion and proceed, you can! Your application won't be blocked. If you'd like to talk it through, our team is always happy to help.

Planning applications are important. We want yours to go as smoothly as possible.