PrePlanning.ie Wins National Award with Carlow County Council at the Irish Planning Awards 2025

September 30th 2025 | Blog | Planners | Local Authorities

We’re thrilled to announce that PrePlanning.ie has played a key role in a winning project at the Irish Planning Institute Awards 2025. At the awards ceremony held in Clontarf Castle on 25 September, Carlow County Council’s Pre-Planning Enquiry Service took home the Research & Innovation prize sponsored by the OPR. This isn’t just an award it’s recognition for a smarter, more accessible way of doing pre-planning, one that already is transforming how councils, applicants, and planners collaborate.

Why this project won?

The Carlow Pre-Planning Enquiry Service is a first-of-its-kind platform that generates instant, site-specific planning reports by pulling together over 50 GIS datasets from planning history and zoning to environmental constraints and policy mapping. It’s fast (reports generated in under 30 seconds), available 24/7, and has already completed thousands of enquiries. For members of the public, it provides clear and consistent planning information at their fingertips. For planners, it’s an invaluable professional tool that improves service delivery and supports early-career training.

The award recognises Carlow Pre-Planning Enquiry Service: A Research Led Digital Innovation Supporting Early Career Planners and Improving Service Delivery. In short, it merges planning expertise, research insight, and digital tools to deliver:

Transparent, data-driven planning advice to the public
A consistently high standard of pre-planning support
A digital learning platform for early-career planners
A model for other local authorities to adopt

For us at PrePlanning.ie, this is a proud moment it shows that our approach (listening to planners, investing in usability, and building for impact) has real, national-level validation.

“This award is an enormous honour for our team. It validates our belief that local government and digital innovation can work hand in hand. To see Carlow’s service recognised for Research & Innovation is powerful affirmation. Beyond the technology, this is a win for transparent, accessible planning. It shows what’s possible when planners and technologists collaborate to make services better for professionals and the public alike.”

How the Carlow Pre-Planning Enquiry Service works:

As covered in a previous blog post, Carlow County Council realised that their traditional pre-planning process was under strain. Demand was increasing, data systems were fragmented, and both applicants and planners spent too much time gathering maps, files, and constraint layers. Rather than replacing everything, Carlow took a more agile approach: build a web tool that works alongside existing processes. The result is the Carlow Pre-Planning Enquiry Service, which:

Lets a user (public, agent, or council staff) log in at Carlow.PrePlanning.ie
Enter a report title, pick a site on the interactive map, and provide an email
Within ~30 seconds, queries 50+ GIS layers (planning history, flood zones, protected structures, environmental constraints, etc.)
Produces a shareable, permanent report via web link and PDF.

Every stakeholder applicant, planning agent, council planner can see the same report in advance of a meeting. This means:

More efficient consultations
Everyone arrives informed and focused
Fewer surprises, more productive dialogues

Since its launch (in 2022), the system has:

Generated over 3,700 reports
Cut down on preparation time for planners
Made pre-planning more accessible for individuals and community groups
Delivered standard, site-specific, data-rich advice consistently

Galway County Council are using a similar service for their public and planning teams.

Why It Works:

For PrePlanning.ie, this award strengthens our mission: to deliver instant, reliable planning insight to councils, professionals, and citizens. It demonstrates that digital innovation grounded in planning practice is not only possible it is recognized and valued. We extend our deepest thanks to Carlow County Council’s Planning Department for their leadership and collaboration, to the Irish Planning Institute for honoring the project, and to the Office of the Planning Regulator for sponsoring the Research & Innovation category.

See It in Action:

You can try the Carlow Pre-Planning Enquiry Service for yourself at Carlow.PrePlanning.ie. If your local authority or planning office is exploring how digital tools can support better service delivery and engagement, we’d be excited to help you envision a similar solution check out the demonstration video to learn more or call us on 056 7820020 or contact us here.