Built on public data. Designed to be useful.
Approvl is an early-stage planning intelligence platform built to make UK planning data queryable before you apply.
Why This Exists
The planning system is public. The intelligence is not.
Every planning application submitted in the UK is a matter of public record. Every decision — approval, refusal, appeal — is logged. Every constraint, every precedent, every ownership relationship is technically accessible.
In practice, none of it is. The data is fragmented across 370 local planning authorities, formatted inconsistently, and updated at different cadences. Querying it requires either expensive professional expertise or hours of manual search.
We built a knowledge graph to change that. Applications connected to outcomes, outcomes connected to sites, sites connected to ownership chains — not a document index, but a connected model of how the planning system actually works.
The intelligence was always there. We made it queryable.
The Team
Andrew Hawkins, Founder.
Built by a single founder with a background in software architecture and data systems. The domain came first — understanding how planning decisions are made and why applications fail — then the graph.
Approvl is early. The data model is working. The coverage is London to start.
Get in Touch
Planning professionals, we want to hear from you.
If you work in planning, development, or architecture and you're willing to poke holes in what we've built — or to tell us what data would actually change your decisions — reach out.
andrew@thesprawl.ai