County Durham vs York — planning approval compared

How do planning outcomes differ between County Durham and York? A side-by-side comparison based on 15,022 combined decisions.

Last updated: February 2026

County Durham: 94.9%

7,693 decisions · 7,297 approved · 396 refused · 113 wards

York: 85.7%

7,329 decisions · 6,279 approved · 1,050 refused · 21 wards

Overall approval rates

County Durham (7,693 decided)

94.9%

York (7,329 decided)

85.7%

By application type

Advertisement — County Durham (266 decided)

97.0%

Advertisement — York (280 decided)

84.3%

Certificate of Lawfulness — County Durham (102 decided)

79.4%

Certificate of Lawfulness — York (357 decided)

86.8%

Change of Use — County Durham (13 decided)

92.3%

Discharge of Conditions — County Durham (1,162 decided)

98.7%

Full — County Durham (3,958 decided)

94.2%

Full — York (2,370 decided)

75.7%

Listed Building — County Durham (358 decided)

98.0%

Listed Building — York (634 decided)

90.4%

Other — County Durham (530 decided)

95.1%

Other — York (2,174 decided)

89.8%

Prior Approval — County Durham (257 decided)

92.2%

Prior Approval — York (47 decided)

80.9%

Trees — County Durham (1,047 decided)

93.3%

Trees — York (1,467 decided)

93.7%

What the numbers mean

There is a 9.2 percentage point difference in overall approval rates between these councils. York 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

County Durham full data York full data