Consultant procurement by the public sector is not a new phenomenon and the tensions that exist between both, in practice and in changes to the built environment from such engagements, have long been studied by planning scholars and experienced by planning practitioners. However, the digitalisation of planning and the embrace of technological tools, many of which are on the cusp of radically altering planning (i.e., digital twins, AI), is generating increasing dependencies on consultants. Despite awareness of how digitalisation is shaping the planning profession, research at the intersection of digitalisation and the role of consultants in this transition is lacking. This paper contributes to this lacuna in a three-part argument: 1) data-driven planning has widened the opening for private sector intervention; 2) this creates a dependence on consultants and furthers the loss of specialist knowledge; and 3) consultants stand to monopolise and privatise public sector data. The argument is supported by a review of Ireland’s 31 local authority development plans and a tool developed by central government to determine housing need and demand projections over a twenty-year period. Results of the review demonstrate existing variations in the development plans between those informed by consultants versus those completed in-house, and between local authorities who procured certain consultants over others. The implications of public sector dependency on consultants matters, not only for the reasons stated above, but because the digitalisation of planning will continue to march forward and the question hinges on the role of the public sector in this evolution.