Our method
Our method and independence policy.
We publish the rules before we publish any scores. This page sets out where our data comes from, what we measure, what we leave out, and how we stay independent of the promoters we compare.
On this page
Where the data comes from
Every score is built from records anyone can check. We name each source so you can.
- Planning applications from council planning registers, collected through the PlanIt aggregator.
- Appeal decisions from the Planning Inspectorate.
- Company accounts, charges and ownership from Companies House.
- Call-for-sites submissions and Local Plan allocations, from each council's Local Plan documents.
- Landowner reviews, published only once we've seen a signed agreement between the landowner and the promoter.
We match each application to a promoter using the applicant named on it and the company's group structure at Companies House. If we can't be confident an application belongs to a promoter, we leave it out.
What we measure
Six measures, each with a plain account of what it means and what it can't tell you. No single number tells you whether a promoter is right for your land.
| Measure | What it means | What it can't tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Sites promoted in the region | How many sites in the region the promoter has taken to a planning decision. | Sites it holds but hasn't yet submitted, or sites it dropped before applying. |
| Approval rate | The share of its decided applications that ended with planning permission, from the council or on appeal. | How hard the sites were. A promoter that only takes easy sites will look good. |
| Appeal win rate | The share of its appeals the Planning Inspectorate allowed. | Whether appealing was the right call. Some promoters appeal only their strongest cases. |
| Median months to consent | The middle value of the time from first application to planning permission. | Delays outside the promoter's control, such as a council pausing decisions during a Local Plan review. |
| Allocation strike rate | The share of sites it put forward to a council's call for sites that were then allocated for housing in a Local Plan. | Sites promoted privately, or plans that are still being prepared. |
| Financial strength band | A band based on its latest accounts, any charges over its assets and who ultimately owns it. | The future. Filed accounts can be well over a year old by the time they appear. |
What we include and leave out
- Major residential schemes only: applications for 10 or more homes.
- Decided from 2016 onwards, so the record reflects how promoters work now.
- A minimum number of sites before any score. Below it, the profile says "Not enough data yet". We will publish the minimum on this page before the first table.
If we change any of these rules, we will record the change here, with the date, before it affects a score.
Independence policy
Published word for word, and applied to every promoter:
- No promoter can pay to change its score, ranking or position.
- Every promoter can receive introductions on the same published terms.
- Landowners never pay us.
- We disclose any fee in every introduction.
- We name our owner and any commercial relationship with a promoter.
OptionMarket is owned by Fold Digital Ltd. We have no commercial relationship with any promoter yet. When we sign introduction terms with one, we will list it here. More about who we are and how we're funded.
Right of reply and corrections
Every promoter sees its own profile 14 days before publication. Factual errors are fixed within five working days. Every correction is logged on this page with a date.
Corrections log
No corrections yet. Nothing has been published.
Promoters can contact us at [email protected].