PlanFalcon

For highways contractors

Find Section 278 and Section 38 Work Earlier

A new junction or estate road starts life in a planning application, long before the highway agreement is signed or the works are priced. PlanFalcon monitors UK planning applications for access, junction and road-building signals, and ranks the schemes likely to need highways work.

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The road is drawn on the plans. You hear about it last.

When a development needs a new access or changes to the public highway, the developer enters a Section 278 agreement with the highway authority. New estate roads that will be adopted go through Section 38. Both follow planning permission, and both are usually visible in the application first: a new priority junction, a roundabout, a new vehicular access.

Most planning registers bury those schemes under hundreds of applications with no highways content at all. By the time the work reaches a tender list, the contractors who were talking to the developer early are already in the conversation.

PlanFalcon finds the applications with highways signals, so you can be in that conversation too.

What a planning application can tell a highways contractor

These are the signals PlanFalcon looks for in application descriptions. None of them guarantees a package — they tell you which applications deserve a closer look.

  • Works to the public highway

    Section 278 references, new junctions, priority junctions, roundabouts and changes to the carriageway or footway.

  • New roads for adoption

    Estate roads, access roads and Section 38 references — the roads a housing or employment scheme will ask the council to adopt.

  • The development behind it

    Residential unit counts, site areas and employment uses such as warehousing and logistics, which drive the size of the highways package.

  • Drainage that comes with the road

    Highway drainage, surface water and attenuation, which are often designed and built alongside the road itself.

How PlanFalcon helps you prioritise

  1. 1

    Set your territory

    Pick the towns or postcodes you cover and how far you travel. PlanFalcon watches the planning authorities that cover them.

  2. 2

    Tell it what you do

    Choose highways and the related services you offer, the kind of schemes you want and the size range that suits your firm.

  3. 3

    See applications ranked, with reasons

    Each application is scored for civils relevance and against your profile. You see why it was flagged — a new junction, an estate road, a unit count — not just a number.

  4. 4

    Add public sector tenders

    Alongside planning, PlanFalcon shows public sector tenders from Contracts Finder, where councils and public bodies advertise work with a budget attached.

Recent applications with highways signals

Real UK planning applications PlanFalcon flagged recently, with the signals that flagged them. Public records, shown at least a week after submission. Signed in, these are ranked against what your own business does.

Sales opportunityUndecided

What to sell: Drainage / water package

Discharge of Conditions 4 (Sustainable Construction), 6 (Construction Method Statement), 8 (Boundary Treatments), 11 (Highways Works), 13 (Adoptable Streets), 17 (Surface Water Disposal), 19 (CEMP) and 20 (LEMP) of approved application 22/03940/FUL

Matched trade signals

Drainage / SuDS scopeHighways / access scope
Planning reference
26/03341/DISCON
Location
Land South West Of Lucker Hall Steading Lucker Northumberland
Submitted
Submitted 8 days ago
Sales opportunityUndecided

What to sell: Infrastructure package

Proposed new agricultural building.

Matched trade signals

Highways / access scope
Planning reference
DM/2026/01151
Location
Land Adjacent To Wyastone Leys Fishery A40 Trunk Road From Hardwick Roundabout To Monmouth Monmouthshire
Submitted
Submitted 8 days ago
Sales opportunityUndecided

What to sell: Infrastructure package

Details pursuant to condition 3 (lighting design) of planning permission 24/00802/FUL.

Matched trade signals

Highways / access scope
Planning reference
PA/2026/0894
Location
Junction Of Waterloo Road, Old Wokingham Road and Peacock Lane
Submitted
Submitted 8 days ago
Sales opportunityUndecided

What to sell: Infrastructure package

Access junction to the south of the B6310

Matched trade signals

Highways / access scope
Planning reference
DM/26/02543/FPA
Location
Lintz Hall Farm Lintz Lane Burnopfield Newcastle Upon Tyne NE16 6AS
Submitted
Submitted 8 days ago
See opportunities ranked for my business

Explore planning activity by area

Recent applications in some of the busiest planning authorities we cover.

Questions

What is Section 278 and Section 38 work?
A Section 278 agreement lets a developer carry out works to the existing public highway, such as a new junction or access. A Section 38 agreement covers new roads the developer builds for the highway authority to adopt. Both are common on housing and employment schemes, and both normally follow a planning permission.
Can a planning application tell me who is doing the highways work?
Not usually. It tells you the scheme exists, where it is, how big it is and whether it involves new roads or junctions. Where the council publishes it, PlanFalcon shows the planning agent, which is often the first route to the developer.
Which areas does PlanFalcon cover?
PlanFalcon monitors planning applications across 400+ UK planning authorities. You choose the territories you want to watch.
Does PlanFalcon guarantee work?
No. It identifies and prioritises potential opportunities from public planning data. Winning the work is still down to your relationships, pricing and timing — PlanFalcon helps you spend that effort on better-qualified schemes.

Know which schemes will need a road before they go out to price.

Tell PlanFalcon what your company does and where you work, and see which planning applications look like highways work for you.

Find highways projects for my business