Autumn Budget 2025: TerraQuest reaction
The Chancellor’s Autumn Budget, announced last week, introduced several fiscal measures and funding commitments which will impact the built environment directly - most notably a range of changes to property and land tax - alongside the less reported, but significant, £53m investment to recruit new public sector planners.
While we welcome this renewed expansion of the planning workforce, it has reignited a broader conversation about what practical steps can accelerate delivery now. More planners will strengthen the system in the long term, but the immediate challenge remains: how do we simplify the process for professionals, as well as reduce the wider issues currently stalling delivery?
TerraQuest and Planning Portal: Making the complicated simple
At TerraQuest and Planning Portal, we are dedicated to making the planning journey as seamless as possible. We optimise our services to make the complicated simple, improving validation and supporting applicants in getting submissions right first time. This focus on clarity, consistency, and smarter digital guidance is essential to ensuring the system works better - today.
Geoff Keal, CEO at TerraQuest, operator of Planning Portal, had this to say:
“Streamlining the journey from developer intent to getting spades in the ground is vital to delivering the homes the country needs. We welcome the government’s commitment to boosting the number of planners joining the profession, as a crucial long-term initiative- and we look forward to seeing the details of the government’s plans following the budget announcement.
“Yet, regardless of the detail, this investment will necessarily take years to translate into capacity on the ground in council planning teams. We believe the focus should be on enabling planners to effectively apply their skills and professional expertise to the work they aspire to do, making the sector an attractive one to join and remain in.
Our priority now is to empower applicants to submit applications that are right first time. A key part of this will lie in the leverage of trusted AI models to support validation and provide clear, tailored guidance at the point of application. We see this as vital to supporting the current system, ensuring our brilliant national planning workforce has the tools it needs to deliver quality decisions at pace, even before the benefits of increased government funding are felt.
“The government must now get the balance right between immediate improvements and long-term investment.”
Want to learn more about how Planning Portal is simplifying the journey for applicants, from submission to approval and beyond? Explore our latest blog, ‘More Than a Portal.’
