Where you live matters. Not just for house prices, school catchments, or commute times — but for whether your planning application gets approved or refused.
We ranked 226 UK councils by planning approval rate, using over 2,500,000+ real decisions scraped directly from council planning portals. The results paint a clear picture: some parts of the country are dramatically more permissive than others.
The Gap Is Enormous
At the top of the rankings, councils approve upwards of 95% of applications. At the bottom, approval rates drop below 70%. That's not a minor variation — it's a fundamentally different planning environment.
If you're in a council near the top, you're operating in a context where approval is the norm and refusal is the exception. If you're near the bottom, refusal is a real possibility that should inform every decision you make about your project.
The Pattern: North vs South
The broad pattern in the data is clear: northern councils tend to approve at higher rates than southern ones. Councils in Yorkshire, the North East, and the North West cluster toward the top of the rankings. London boroughs and councils in the South East cluster toward the bottom.
There are exceptions. Some southern councils are surprisingly permissive. Some northern councils are tougher than you'd expect. But the overall trend is unmistakable.
Why? It comes down to development pressure. Areas with higher demand — more applications, more density, more competition for space — tend to be more selective. Areas with more room to grow tend to be more accommodating.
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The Easiest Councils
Councils at the top of our rankings — those with approval rates above 90% — tend to share a few characteristics. They're often in less densely developed areas. They have fewer conservation areas. And they tend to have a planning culture that defaults toward approval unless there's a strong reason to refuse.
That doesn't mean you can propose anything and get approved. But it does mean that a well-designed, policy-compliant proposal in these areas has very high odds of success.
We publish the full rankings on our council approval rankings page, broken down by extension type.
The Hardest Councils
At the bottom of the rankings, you'll find councils where one in four — or even one in three — applications is refused. These tend to be urban, densely populated, and under significant development pressure.
London boroughs feature heavily. But it's not just London. Some councils outside London with large conservation areas or particularly restrictive local policies also rank low.
If your council is in the bottom quartile, the single most valuable thing you can do before applying is understand exactly what gets approved and refused nearby. The margin for error is smaller, and the cost of a refusal — in time, money, and stress — is real.
Where does your council rank?
Don't guess. PlanningLens shows you exactly how your council compares — and breaks it down to ward level and extension type.
Check Your Postcode →Rankings Only Tell Part of the Story
Here's the important caveat. A council's overall approval rate is a useful starting point, but it's not the whole picture. Within any council, different wards can have very different rates. Different extension types face different levels of scrutiny. And trends shift over time.
A council ranked in the middle nationally might have one ward that's among the toughest in the country and another that's one of the most permissive. Borough averages smooth over these differences.
That's why we built PlanningLens to go deeper than council-level rankings. We show you the data that actually matters: what's happening near your property, for your type of project.
What This Means For You
If you're planning a project, knowing where your council sits in the national picture is step one. It sets your expectations and helps you calibrate how much preparation your project needs.
Step two is going local. What's the approval rate in your specific ward? What types of extensions are being approved or refused nearby? Are there patterns you should be aware of before you brief an architect?
That's the difference between hope and strategy. And in planning, strategy wins.
See the full council rankings: Planning Approval Rankings — 226 councils ranked by approval rate.
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