Lewisham Council uses AI to identify potential housing development sites
You know, every small-town council in this country has one overworked planner squinting at maps, trying to spot where housing could actually go. Now imagine that same tool quietly sifting through Council records for the odd back paddock or brownfield corner nobody had clocked. I reckon that is not flash tech, that is just giving our stretched councils a fighting chance.
— The Visionary, The 6 O’Clock A.I. NewsThe Breakdown
Source: THINK Digital Partners · 2026-08-04 — read the original ↗
Lewisham Council in the UK has used artificial intelligence to help find land suitable for new housing. The technology identified more than 3,000 potential development sites across the council area.
The system is designed to scan available land and flag locations that could be used for housing, work that would otherwise take planning staff far longer to do by hand. It is aimed at local councils and planning teams looking to speed up the early stages of identifying where new homes could go.
New Zealand councils face similar pressure to find land for housing while working with limited planning resources. The Lewisham example shows one way councils overseas are using AI to speed up that search, though the source gives no detail on cost, accuracy or what happens to the sites once identified.