Planning approval rates by council

Name: UK planning approval rates by council
Creator: PlanningLens
Published: 2026-09-30T18:28:47+00:00
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Compare planning permission success rates across 91 councils, ranked by approval rate. Calculated across 2,698,861 substantive planning decisions.

Last updated: September 2026

310

Councils indexed

2,698,861

Substantive decisions

2283

Postcodes mapped

5 yrs

Of data

All councils ranked by approval rate (strictest first)

Ranked here: 91 of the 310 councils indexed. A council enters the league table only when it is outside the excluded list (Blackburn with Darwen, Buckinghamshire, Cheshire West & Chester, Chesterfield, Medway, South Hams, Stroud, West Devon) and clears 300 decisions and a 60% approval rate. The exclusions cover known portal-data distortions such as bulk imports and portal-migration artefacts, and the thresholds keep small samples and incomplete capture out of a comparison they would distort. Every council indexed keeps its own page, with each figure traceable to the council’s own portal record.

#	Council	Approval rate	Decisions	Wards
1	Brent	70.2%	15,743	48
2	Greenwich	70.4%	11,202	47
3	Barking & Dagenham	70.9%	8,010	22
4	Croydon	72.9%	20,136	83
5	Waltham Forest	73.5%	13,158	24
6	Harrow	73.8%	14,217	27
7	Hounslow	74.6%	16,142	111
8	Havering	74.7%	14,332	48
9	East Hertfordshire	75.3%	10,865	52
10	Enfield	75.4%	20,008	97
11	Hillingdon	75.9%	16,110	44
12	Redbridge	76.6%	20,802	47
13	Thurrock	77.0%	6,117	51
14	Lewisham	77.9%	13,593	38
15	Barnet	78.0%	30,525	66
16	Newham	78.1%	8,867	48
17	Hackney	78.5%	9,666	48
18	Elmbridge	78.6%	11,108	56
19	Lambeth	78.8%	14,264	91
20	Sutton	79.4%	11,895	78
21	Staffordshire Moorlands	79.5%	3,575	0
22	Tower Hamlets	79.6%	7,181	39
23	Brentwood	79.8%	5,732	17
24	Guildford	80.8%	10,064	21
25	Middlesbrough	81.5%	2,853	22
26	Slough	81.8%	5,824	24
27	Hart	82.1%	5,355	11
28	Bexley	82.2%	13,234	57
29	Bradford	82.8%	18,551	60
30	Dartford	83.2%	4,451	28
31	Newark & Sherwood	83.6%	6,138	22
32	Ealing	83.6%	21,091	96
33	Gloucester	83.7%	3,162	18
34	Haringey	83.8%	11,233	58
35	Calderdale	84.0%	6,529	22
36	Merton	84.1%	12,167	72
37	Leeds	84.1%	24,994	33
38	Hastings	84.3%	2,714	37
39	High Peak	84.8%	2,761	0
40	Peterborough	85.0%	5,275	31
41	South Gloucestershire	85.0%	11,189	39
42	Runnymede	85.1%	5,242	0
43	Warrington	85.2%	8,240	23
44	Kirklees	85.3%	10,301	23
45	Isle of Wight	85.4%	6,551	59
46	Reigate & Banstead	86.5%	7,499	17
47	Islington	86.8%	11,292	80
48	Portsmouth	86.8%	4,581	14
49	Exeter	87.2%	3,722	13
50	Rutland	87.7%	3,011	20
51	Medway	87.8%	7,551	46
52	Kingston upon Hull	87.9%	4,275	21
53	East Cambridgeshire	88.2%	5,394	23
54	Eastleigh	88.2%	4,475	44
55	North Somerset	88.5%	8,965	36
56	Warwick	88.5%	6,200	27
57	Cannock Chase	88.6%	2,067	52
58	Forest of Dean	88.7%	4,347	21
59	East Hampshire	89.0%	4,924	25
60	Wigan	89.1%	4,527	29
61	Hammersmith & Fulham	89.1%	9,953	63
62	Rushcliffe	89.4%	6,888	30
63	Camden	89.5%	11,045	89
64	Tewkesbury	89.5%	4,958	22
65	North East Derbyshire	89.7%	3,551	26
66	Barnsley	90.2%	4,821	46
67	Chesterfield	90.6%	2,643	27
68	New Forest	91.1%	6,291	22
69	Blackburn with Darwen	91.1%	4,345	0
70	West Suffolk	91.2%	6,731	48
71	Sunderland	91.3%	4,654	39
72	Westmorland and Furness	91.6%	7,748	54
73	Telford & Wrekin	91.9%	4,440	47
74	Wakefield	92.0%	7,694	21
75	Southwark	92.0%	16,550	72
76	Plymouth	92.0%	4,579	20
77	Wiltshire	92.1%	24,911	324
78	Doncaster	92.2%	8,750	23
79	Cotswold	92.2%	8,500	32
80	Newcastle upon Tyne	92.2%	7,293	54
81	Norwich	92.3%	3,415	14
82	Rugby	92.7%	4,747	28
83	Gateshead	92.7%	3,746	22
84	Tamworth	92.8%	1,487	0
85	Lincoln	93.9%	2,386	11
86	Knowsley	94.8%	2,699	15
87	Hartlepool	95.2%	1,944	0
88	North Tyneside	95.2%	4,332	34
89	Cheltenham	95.2%	6,338	20
90	Redcar and Cleveland	95.3%	3,609	0
91	Rushmoor	96.0%	2,640	14

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