Eureka! Robert awakens full of direction and hope for the future – he has seen it all in a dream. The housing crisis can be solved. New communities for mortgage-less millennials can be delivered. Our architectural heritage can be protected. And the stalwarts of old-guard British Town and Country Planning – defending democratic process, discretionary decision-making and holding back development and progress – can be once and truly side-lined.

The future is data-driven. Bring the developers … er, we mean the people! … precision and predictability. Bring them into the 21st century. No more notices on lampposts, the government says, make way for interactive and accessible map-based online systems. They say, ‘place planning at the fingertips of people’. The future for planning is clear, they say, the future is Proptech.

In the midst of the global pandemic, Rt Hon Robert [the dreamer] Jenrick MP and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government released for consultation a new White Paper: Planning for the Future. The 84-page document contains 80 uses of the term ‘data’ and the term ‘digital’ appears 51 times.

[[Interactive digital services and tools --- Digital neighbourhood groups --- Digital engagement processes --- Modern digital planning services --- Radical, digital-first approach --- Standardised, digitally-consumable --- Digitally responsive and flexible --- Accessible, Digital and Transparent]]

Emancipation from bureaucratic red-tape is to be through a digitization of planning; standardised, rule-based models of consultation, permission and implementation. But there is little mention of the data infrastructure and time that will be needed to support this radical digital-first future. The answer? Third party proprietary commercial property technology ‘Proptech’ industry to take the lead in ‘governing’ development and growth.

This is the way.