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Planning approval rates by council

Compare planning permission success rates across 226 councils, ranked by approval rate. Based on 2,546,240 real decisions.

Last updated: March 2026

226
Councils covered
2,546,240
Decisions analysed
2540
Postcodes mapped
5 yrs
Of data

All councils ranked by approval rate

#CouncilApproval rateDecisionsWards
1 Uttlesford 72.4% 254 20
2 East Hertfordshire 73.2% 16,563 50
3 Maldon 75.3% 3,963 17
4 Brent 76.0% 32,531 48
5 Greenwich 78.1% 22,217 47
6 Bradford 78.8% 26,787 30
7 Hillingdon 78.9% 30,009 44
8 Redbridge 79.0% 33,149 47
9 Waltham Forest 79.1% 21,278 44
10 Barking & Dagenham 79.3% 9,122 43
11 Havering 79.3% 23,213 48
12 Southend-on-Sea 79.4% 587 17
13 Enfield 79.8% 29,826 97
14 Kingston 80.0% 23,239 45
15 Thurrock 80.0% 10,618 20
16 Harrow 80.6% 12,600 48
17 Pembrokeshire 80.7% 5,895 114
18 Croydon 80.8% 38,435 56
19 Bromley 80.9% 36,212 54
20 Wyre 81.2% 405 22
21 Guildford 81.7% 16,972 21
22 Barnet 81.8% 53,415 66
23 Cardiff 81.9% 4,367 29
24 Slough 82.2% 6,928 22
25 Islington 82.8% 85,229 80
26 Lewisham 82.9% 24,367 38
27 Selby 83.0% 5,669 25
28 Middlesbrough 83.1% 3,412 22
29 Caerphilly 83.2% 1,944 39
30 Leicester 83.3% 538 21
31 Birmingham 83.8% 33,111 0
32 Brentwood 83.8% 11,640 17
33 Coventry 83.8% 1,909 18
34 Sutton 83.9% 17,407 78
35 Lambeth 84.6% 30,422 91
36 Blackpool 84.7% 554 21
37 Newham 84.7% 20,907 47
38 Bexley 84.9% 20,572 57
39 Lichfield 84.9% 2,583 22
40 Gloucester 85.1% 4,057 18
41 Hertsmere 85.1% 3,094 17
42 Windsor & Maidenhead 85.2% 6,575 20
43 Hart 85.5% 9,970 11
44 Chelmsford 85.7% 505 0
45 Merton 85.9% 17,557 66
46 Ealing 86.0% 67,567 54
47 Swansea 86.1% 2,873 42
48 Flintshire 86.3% 5,930 52
49 Kirklees 86.3% 29,619 23
50 Dartmoor NPA 86.4% 4,244 4
51 Gravesham 86.4% 550 17
52 Hastings 86.4% 5,869 31
53 West Berkshire 86.5% 289 20
54 Hackney 86.6% 18,634 47
55 Leeds 86.6% 44,615 33
56 Castle Point 86.7% 2,500 18
57 Sevenoaks 86.8% 12,687 27
58 Bristol 86.9% 24,529 34
59 South Gloucestershire 86.9% 15,285 39
60 Tameside 87.1% 3,465 19
61 Thanet 87.1% 27,009 23
62 Richmond 87.3% 32,316 55
63 Newark & Sherwood 87.4% 9,966 22
64 Pendle 87.5% 271 12
65 Sefton 87.5% 6,453 22
66 Calderdale 87.6% 13,254 17
67 Hounslow 87.7% 72,195 111
68 New Forest 87.7% 8,940 22
69 Babergh Mid Suffolk 87.8% 329 32
70 Bolton 87.8% 3,753 27
71 Ceredigion 87.9% 37,412 41
72 Epsom & Ewell 87.9% 8,139 15
73 Manchester 87.9% 13,750 32
74 Glasgow 88.1% 39,359 23
75 Dartford 88.2% 7,102 28
76 Isle of Wight 88.2% 14,098 59
77 Trafford 88.2% 13,295 33
78 Haringey 88.4% 23,488 58
79 Portsmouth 88.5% 9,214 14
80 Liverpool 88.6% 48,035 104
81 Oldham 88.6% 6,836 20
82 Reigate & Banstead 88.6% 13,287 17
83 Sunderland 88.6% 10,482 25
84 Rushcliffe 88.8% 7,470 30
85 Cheshire East 89.0% 12,643 54
86 Tower Hamlets 89.0% 26,296 39
87 Maidstone 89.2% 418 32
88 Swale 89.2% 416 31
89 Dudley 89.4% 13,083 56
90 Kingston upon Hull 89.4% 6,152 21
91 Burnley 89.6% 259 15
92 Wigan 89.6% 4,758 29
93 Wakefield 89.7% 12,601 21
94 Warwick 89.7% 12,594 27
95 Basingstoke & Deane 89.8% 11,049 18
96 Brighton & Hove 89.8% 3,163 33
97 Cannock Chase 89.9% 2,556 45
98 Barnsley 90.0% 24,616 46
99 Newport 90.0% 4,824 22
100 Basildon 90.1% 578 14
101 South Ayrshire 90.1% 364 8
102 Luton 90.2% 3,235 19
103 North Somerset 90.2% 19,330 36
104 North East Derbyshire 90.3% 6,406 26
105 Tonbridge & Malling 90.3% 10,563 28
106 York 90.3% 10,877 21
107 Cambridge 90.4% 5,770 43
108 Chesterfield 90.4% 4,800 27
109 East Cambridgeshire 90.5% 10,928 23
110 Exeter 90.5% 6,750 13
111 Pembrokeshire Coast NPA 90.5% 2,969 40
112 Spelthorne 90.5% 717 14
113 Surrey Heath 90.5% 4,021 17
114 Forest of Dean 90.6% 6,046 21
115 Fife 90.7% 5,321 24
116 Southampton 90.7% 1,007 17
117 West Lothian 90.7% 13,423 10
118 Sheffield 90.8% 6,165 28
119 Tendring 90.8% 316 21
120 Westminster 90.8% 60,698 99
121 Rossendale 90.9% 453 12
122 Cairngorms NP 91.0% 279 6
123 Great Yarmouth 91.0% 2,418 0
124 Tewkesbury 91.0% 6,410 22
125 Bury 91.2% 4,896 18
126 Horsham 91.2% 12,372 22
127 Lake District NPA 91.2% 7,872 63
128 Test Valley 91.2% 5,558 27
129 Doncaster 91.4% 11,315 22
130 Stroud 91.4% 9,223 27
131 Lewes & Eastbourne 91.5% 1,948 18
132 Oxford 91.5% 5,477 31
133 Darlington 91.6% 2,301 20
134 Cheshire West & Chester 91.9% 16,054 49
135 Exmoor NPA 92.0% 1,828 0
136 Camden 92.1% 19,373 85
137 Hammersmith & Fulham 92.1% 19,357 43
138 Gedling 92.3% 4,194 19
139 Dorset 92.4% 8,267 53
140 Telford & Wrekin 92.4% 15,051 47
141 Torfaen 92.4% 4,592 25
142 Kensington & Chelsea 92.5% 33,175 37
143 Norwich 92.6% 8,179 14
144 Rotherham 92.7% 2,503 25
145 Sandwell 92.9% 6,354 24
146 Solihull 92.9% 4,406 17
147 Plymouth 93.0% 6,550 20
148 Three Rivers 93.0% 3,012 29
149 Bromsgrove & Redditch 93.1% 1,868 46
150 Newcastle upon Tyne 93.1% 8,785 26
151 Adur & Worthing 93.2% 13,786 27
152 Chorley 93.2% 3,509 30
153 Dover 93.2% 6,755 28
154 King's Lynn & West Norfolk 93.2% 2,011 34
155 South Downs 93.2% 10,511 71
156 Torridge 93.2% 8,020 24
157 Bath & NE Somerset 93.3% 36,819 41
158 Lancaster 93.3% 4,014 60
159 Southwark 93.3% 28,675 51
160 Derby 93.4% 3,995 25
161 Wandsworth 93.5% 26,261 76
162 Nottingham 93.6% 6,278 21
163 Arun 93.7% 2,451 0
164 Derbyshire Dales 93.7% 3,869 21
165 Newcastle-under-Lyme 93.7% 526 20
166 Gateshead 93.8% 7,156 22
167 Stevenage 93.8% 3,606 14
168 Cornwall 93.9% 6,212 184
169 Yorkshire Dales NPA 93.9% 4,168 0
170 Mid Sussex 94.0% 7,819 28
171 North East Lincolnshire 94.0% 3,036 15
172 Rugby 94.0% 6,135 27
173 Broadland 94.1% 3,348 28
174 Dundee 94.1% 10,343 8
175 Aberdeen 94.3% 21,448 14
176 Swindon 94.3% 3,908 38
177 West Oxfordshire 94.3% 6,435 27
178 Highland 94.4% 1,987 21
179 North Tyneside 94.4% 5,719 34
180 South Holland 94.4% 1,293 0
181 Knowsley 94.5% 4,280 15
182 North York Moors 94.5% 3,130 0
183 Perth & Kinross 94.5% 22,100 12
184 North Norfolk 94.6% 2,008 32
185 North Northamptonshire 94.6% 4,238 10
186 Broxtowe 94.7% 4,581 25
187 Winchester 94.9% 6,515 16
188 County Durham 95.0% 14,377 113
189 Stirling 95.2% 12,182 7
190 Stockton-on-Tees 95.2% 2,158 30
191 Lincoln 95.3% 6,781 11
192 South Tyneside 95.3% 3,235 0
193 Cotswold 95.6% 23,108 32
194 East Ayrshire 95.6% 1,112 9
195 Argyll & Bute 95.7% 3,738 12
196 Midlothian 95.7% 951 6
197 Cheltenham 95.9% 13,600 20
198 Huntingdonshire 95.9% 4,137 32
199 Orkney 96.0% 7,933 6
200 Angus 96.1% 13,888 11
201 Hambleton 96.5% 4,027 45
202 Rushmoor 96.5% 4,157 14
203 South Norfolk 96.8% 3,731 28
204 South Lanarkshire 96.9% 25,858 20
205 Carlisle 97.1% 4,219 39
206 OPDC 97.3% 1,230 7
207 South Ribble 97.3% 438 22
208 Gosport 97.6% 1,526 23
209 Dumfries & Galloway 97.7% 22,558 13
210 Clackmannanshire 98.2% 965 5
211 Moray 98.3% 1,150 8
212 Monmouthshire 98.4% 1,350 42
213 Shetland 98.4% 6,267 16
214 Falkirk 98.5% 545 9
215 LLDC 98.6% 3,226 4
216 City of London 98.7% 9,789 51
217 North Ayrshire 98.7% 999 14
218 Somerset 98.7% 553 4
219 Aberdeenshire 98.8% 1,022 19
220 Mansfield 98.8% 2,946 38
221 Fareham 99.1% 2,490 0
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