Council Scanner™
Know the council before you commit
Structured intelligence on local authority decision-making environments
Important Notice: Based on publicly available information. Insight tool only. Not a judgement on council competence or performance. In addition to this analysis, qualified legal, financial and other professional advice should always be sought before making any decision.
Better Information, More Data, Quicker Turnaround, Cheaper Cost
- Lower research cost: less junior analyst time
- Lower QA cost: less senior rewriting
- Faster turnaround: insight in minutes, not weeks
- More up to date: refreshable outputs
- Broader coverage: more sources, scanned consistently
- Better at scale: cost per council drops sharply across portfolios
How it works
Select council
Choose any UK local authority. One click, no forms.
Step 02 — Scan
Council Scanner brings together publicly available information to provide rapid, evidence-led insight into how councils operate, make decisions, and manage planning and governance risk.
Which Council will you scan first?
Join professionals and residents who use Council Scanner to understand local authority decision-making contexts, risks, and constraints.
Demo only. Any council name works to see a sample result.
Or choose a tier below.
Step 03 — Structure
Real-Time Monitoring
Why Council Scanner?
Why Council Scanner?
- Rapid synthesis of published council information
- Clear interpretation beyond headlines and raw data
- Continuous tracking without reliance on statutory benchmarking cycles
- Multi-authority visibility to support strategic awareness
Council Scanner is designed to help users understand context, risk, and decision-making conditions, not to score or rank councils.
Key Capabilities
Key capabilities
Comprehensive intelligence across governance, finance, planning, and delivery environments, structured for clarity and proportionate use.
Political composition, leadership and committee structures.
See Core Features →Financial context, resilience and Section 114-related signals.
See Core Features →Local Plan status, decision patterns and determination timescales.
See Core Features →Publicly visible political signals influencing decisions.
See Core Features →Published indicators linked to financial intervention risk.
See Core Features →Staffing pressures, vacancies and workload signals.
See Core Features →Step 04 — Clarity
Evidence-Led. AI-Powered. Human-Verified.
Automated synthesis across 300 English councils, combining machine efficiency with human oversight to ensure clarity, consistency, and defensibility.
Coverage across all English local authorities
Publicly available indicators and observed decision signals
Instant access to structured insight
Value
Cut council intelligence from weeks to minutes.
Reduce research cost, improve coverage, and refresh outputs as conditions change.
Typical traditional cost per council
Typical manual turnaround
To generate a scan, with human review
Traditional
£1,500–£3,000 per council
5–10 working days
- Manual desk research and drafting
- Senior rewrite and correction
- Follow-up work common
- Static outputs requiring recommissioning
Council Scanner
Generated in 90 seconds
Human-reviewed same day or next day
- Automated capture and structured synthesis
- Targeted senior oversight
- Refreshable updates
- Consistent format across councils
Compare traditional manual research with structured, rapid council intelligence.
Less junior analyst time
Reduce manual research effort.
Less senior rewrite time
Targeted review, not reconstruction.
Faster turnaround
Decision-ready insight in minutes.
Refreshable outputs
Update without recommissioning.
Higher source coverage
Fewer blind spots and missed signals.
Lower unit cost at scale
Portfolio intelligence becomes viable.
Reduced programme risk
Avoid late-stage redesign and engagement resets caused by incomplete intelligence.
Reduced internal briefing time
Consistent output format improves multi-authority portfolio efficiency.
Most council intelligence is commissioned too late. Council Scanner provides early context so engagement and delivery decisions are made with confidence.
Savings reflect reduced research and drafting time compared to typical manual council intelligence commissions.
Council Scanner structures and interprets publicly available information. It does not provide statutory performance assessment, legal advice, planning advice, or financial advice.
Step 05 — Action
Intelligence-led council analysis
Real-time insight into local authority decision-making environments, governance changes, and planning trends. Choose the tier that matches your needs.
Council Snapshot
Essential transparency for residents, community groups, and voters. Tailored to the particular industry sector of the requester.
- Overview of governance and political composition
- High-level financial context
- Planning decision patterns
- Public-facing snapshot reports
Professional Council Snapshot
Designed for developers and professionals. Decision-grade insight for risk awareness, engagement strategy, and programme planning.
- Everything in Council Snapshot
- Private vs public sector delivery RAGs
- Planning committee monitoring
- Political risk indicators
- Officer capacity indicators
- Section 114 risk indicators
- Downloadable intelligence reports
Full Council Scan
Tailored to the particular industry sector of the requester.
- Comprehensive council intelligence
- Sector-tailored analysis and reporting
Custom solutions
Bespoke intelligence for strategic, portfolio-level decision-making.
- Bespoke research and analysis
- Multi-authority access
- Continual monitoring and alerts
- API access (where applicable)
Important Notice
Council Scanner structures and interprets publicly available information to support understanding of local authority decision-making environments. It does not provide statutory performance assessment, legal advice, planning advice, or financial advice. Users remain responsible for verifying information material to their decisions.