Trafford vs Tower Hamlets — planning approval compared

How do planning outcomes differ between Trafford and Tower Hamlets? A side-by-side comparison based on 24,475 combined decisions.

Last updated: March 2026

Trafford: 87.3%

12,341 decisions · 10,771 approved · 1,570 refused · 33 wards

Tower Hamlets: 87.9%

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

Overall approval rates

Trafford (12,341 decided)

87.3%

Tower Hamlets (12,134 decided)

87.9%

By application type

Advertisement — Trafford (365 decided)

72.3%

Advertisement — Tower Hamlets (517 decided)

82.0%

Certificate of Lawfulness — Trafford (1,246 decided)

86.1%

Change of Use — Trafford (77 decided)

87.0%

Discharge of Conditions — Trafford (404 decided)

78.5%

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

97.2%

Full — Trafford (9,176 decided)

88.9%

Full — Tower Hamlets (3,864 decided)

78.7%

Listed Building — Trafford (128 decided)

89.1%

Listed Building — Tower Hamlets (830 decided)

88.2%

Other — Trafford (808 decided)

83.8%

Other — Tower Hamlets (3,061 decided)

88.4%

Prior Approval — Trafford (130 decided)

75.4%

Prior Approval — Tower Hamlets (17 decided)

94.1%

Trees — Tower Hamlets (775 decided)

98.6%

What the numbers mean

There is a 0.6 percentage point difference in overall approval rates between these councils. Trafford 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

Trafford full data Tower Hamlets full data