Southwark vs York — planning approval compared

How do planning outcomes differ between Southwark and York? A side-by-side comparison based on 15,922 combined decisions.

Last updated: February 2026

Southwark: 93.3%

8,593 decisions · 8,018 approved · 575 refused · 23 wards

York: 85.7%

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

Overall approval rates

Southwark (8,593 decided)

93.3%

York (7,329 decided)

85.7%

By application type

Advertisement — Southwark (315 decided)

87.6%

Advertisement — York (280 decided)

84.3%

Certificate of Lawfulness — Southwark (546 decided)

94.0%

Certificate of Lawfulness — York (357 decided)

86.8%

Change of Use — Southwark (147 decided)

81.6%

Full — Southwark (1,620 decided)

94.4%

Full — York (2,370 decided)

75.7%

Listed Building — Southwark (420 decided)

90.5%

Listed Building — York (634 decided)

90.4%

Other — Southwark (4,378 decided)

92.9%

Other — York (2,174 decided)

89.8%

Prior Approval — Southwark (42 decided)

66.7%

Prior Approval — York (47 decided)

80.9%

Trees — Southwark (1,125 decided)

98.1%

Trees — York (1,467 decided)

93.7%

What the numbers mean

There is a 7.6 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

Southwark full data York full data