Cotswold vs South Gloucestershire — planning approval compared

How do planning outcomes differ between Cotswold and South Gloucestershire? A side-by-side comparison based on 31,017 combined decisions.

Last updated: March 2026

Cotswold: 95.4%

15,871 decisions · 15,141 approved · 730 refused · 32 wards

South Gloucestershire: 86.8%

15,146 decisions · 13,144 approved · 2,002 refused · 39 wards

Overall approval rates

Cotswold (15,871 decided)

95.4%

South Gloucestershire (15,146 decided)

86.8%

By application type

Advertisement — Cotswold (119 decided)

88.2%

Advertisement — South Gloucestershire (300 decided)

96.0%

Certificate of Lawfulness — Cotswold (359 decided)

88.9%

Certificate of Lawfulness — South Gloucestershire (1,174 decided)

85.9%

Discharge of Conditions — Cotswold (1,996 decided)

98.5%

Full — Cotswold (6,408 decided)

93.4%

Full — South Gloucestershire (8,994 decided)

85.1%

Listed Building — Cotswold (1,636 decided)

94.6%

Listed Building — South Gloucestershire (601 decided)

94.0%

Other — Cotswold (870 decided)

86.3%

Other — South Gloucestershire (2,070 decided)

85.6%

Prior Approval — Cotswold (67 decided)

92.5%

Prior Approval — South Gloucestershire (304 decided)

72.4%

Trees — Cotswold (4,416 decided)

99.8%

Trees — South Gloucestershire (1,692 decided)

96.0%

What the numbers mean

There is a 8.6 percentage point difference in overall approval rates between these councils. South Gloucestershire is the stricter of the two, which means similar applications may face higher refusal risk there. However, approval rates vary by ward and application type, so your specific situation may differ from the averages.

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See detailed data

Cotswold full data South Gloucestershire full data