Sevenoaks vs Tower Hamlets — planning approval compared

How do planning outcomes differ between Sevenoaks and Tower Hamlets? A side-by-side comparison based on 24,806 combined decisions.

Last updated: March 2026

Sevenoaks: 86.8%

12,672 decisions · 10,993 approved · 1,679 refused · 27 wards

Tower Hamlets: 87.9%

12,134 decisions · 10,667 approved · 1,467 refused · 22 wards

Overall approval rates

Sevenoaks (12,672 decided)

86.8%

Tower Hamlets (12,134 decided)

87.9%

By application type

Advertisement — Sevenoaks (84 decided)

89.3%

Advertisement — Tower Hamlets (517 decided)

82.0%

Certificate of Lawfulness — Sevenoaks (922 decided)

74.1%

Change of Use — Sevenoaks (71 decided)

69.0%

Discharge of Conditions — Sevenoaks (142 decided)

82.4%

Discharge of Conditions — Tower Hamlets (3,070 decided)

97.2%

Full — Sevenoaks (5,255 decided)

83.3%

Full — Tower Hamlets (3,864 decided)

78.7%

Listed Building — Sevenoaks (510 decided)

85.1%

Listed Building — Tower Hamlets (830 decided)

88.2%

Other — Sevenoaks (3,341 decided)

90.3%

Other — Tower Hamlets (3,061 decided)

88.4%

Prior Approval — Sevenoaks (129 decided)

86.8%

Prior Approval — Tower Hamlets (17 decided)

94.1%

Trees — Sevenoaks (2,218 decided)

96.1%

Trees — Tower Hamlets (775 decided)

98.6%

What the numbers mean

There is a 1.1 percentage point difference in overall approval rates between these councils. Sevenoaks 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

Sevenoaks full data Tower Hamlets full data