How AI is Accelerating Smarter Growth and Service Delivery for Local Government

According to a report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, 95% of investments in generative artificial intelligence (AI) are yet to show tangible value. It’s part of a global research trend that reveals the difficulties in proving a practical, long-term return on AI investment. 

Hertfordshire County Council, working with Jacobs and PA Consulting, has a plan to reverse this trend. Their collaboration has produced a blueprint that prioritizes AI and automation use cases to help the council more efficiently deliver highways services, with a particular initial focus on development management. This relates directly to the increasing demand on the council to engage developers in the provision of new infrastructure. 

Development management — the process of assessing and coordinating proposals for new developments — is one of several key opportunities within the wider fourteen-year professional services contract with Hertfordshire County Council, which started in 2024. Jacobs provides program and asset management and technical support to the highway and environmental service to help protect and maximize value from the county’s highways, structures and environmental assets. PA Consulting is the embedded innovation and transformation advisor bringing expertise in digital strategy, sustainability and social value objectives.

Together, Jacobs, PA Consulting and the council are focused on delivering enduring outcomes for Hertfordshire’s residents and businesses, creating more resilient and efficient public services.

Creating the AI blueprint through collaboration

As part of a focused five-week engagement, the PA Consulting-led team conducted detailed stakeholder interviews with Highways and Transport for Hertfordshire, part of the Growth and Environment Directorate, alongside the supply chain. This informed an in-depth use case assessment and was paired with a collaborative innovation workshop that mapped the council’s pain points with generative AI opportunities. The team picked the highest value use cases and started small to build execution muscle and then scaled what worked. The key was not to focus on AI as a strategy — the council already had a strategy — but how AI contributes to the success of the strategy. It required practical steps designed to deliver measurable value against real pressures.

The team recognized, it was also essential to show that the AI blueprint wasn’t going to replace people. Rather, it is about using innovation to empower teams and enable great work.

Defining the friction points

The demand for developer management has steadily risen over the last few years, placing more pressure on the council to be more efficient in the design review process. Stakeholder interviews highlighted opportunities for improvement in areas such as communication alignment, clarity of guidance, process transparency, fee tracking efficiency, ownership during handovers and unpredictable timelines. Addressing these areas helps streamlines operations, reduces workload and minimizes the risk of misaligned or misinterpreted approvals.

Building prototypes with promise

These pain points led to a shortlist of six tangible AI use cases. Two were prioritized for rapid prototyping of advanced AI agents based on impact, feasibility and speed to value. The result was an actionable roadmap that starts with two low-barrier, high-impact prototypes: the “Briefing Genie” and the “Guidance Genie.” Both were chosen because they leverage data the council already owns, align to existing workflows and can be scaled to include other use cases.

The Briefing Genie rapidly reviews large, multidisciplinary application documentation and instantly creates concise, role-relevant briefs that emphasize what matters most for each reviewer. The rewards: less time hunting for context, faster onboarding to each case and clearer ownership from the start. Guidance Genie translates standards and legal frameworks into plain English and site-specific guidance. It empowers developers and officers to apply requirements consistently and reduce avoidable iterations before submission.

The broader AI blueprint offers automated compliance checks for regulations and contracts, optimizes resource allocation and drives process efficiency and risk mitigation. These all translate into cost savings and better value for money.

What does this mean for the council? 

This AI blueprint is evidence of the collaborative innovation culture that’s started with Hertfordshire County Council, and it’s a scalable solution that can be applied across the wider contract. At Hertfordshire, AI is being used to drive efficiencies across budgets, timelines, quality assurance and third-party performance — all while working within financial constraints. It will benefit the county's residents and businesses, creating more resilient and effective services for the 1.2 million people who live and work in Hertfordshire.

Development management is a key lever for economic growth for the council as it addresses the rising demand for more homes. This AI blueprint positions the council as a pioneer in digital planning innovation, providing developers and investors with a clearer, faster and more predictable approvals journey and better experience across workflows.