Belfast City Council planning approval rate
Belfast City Council council approved 94.2% of planning applications and refused 5.8%, based on 13,582 decisions analysed. Ranked 206th out of 279 councils for strictness.
Last updated: June 2026 · Based on decisions from January 2020 to present
94.2%
overall approval rate
Planning in Belfast City Council?
Check your postcode to see approval rates specific to your ward and street.
Approval rate by application type
Different application types have different approval rates in Belfast City Council. Householder and full planning applications typically have the highest volume.
Approval rate by project type
These rates are based on what homeowners are actually building in Belfast City Council — mined from 13,582 proposal descriptions.
Approval rate by ward
Planning outcomes vary significantly by ward within Belfast City Council. Click any ward for detailed statistics.
Wards in Belfast City Council
Recent comparable decisions
The most recent residential planning decisions in Belfast City Council, showing how the council decides real applications.
Minor demolition of part external wall of dwelling to facilitate a single storey · · 2025-03-31
Change of use of second floor of 3 storey office building to a residential apart · · 2025-03-31
Single-storey rear extension · · 2025-03-31
Showing 3 of 200 comparable decisions. See all 200 in the full report →
What gets approved near your property?
In Belfast City Council, 1 in 17 applications are refused. Your PlanningLens Full Planning Analysis gives you 17 pages of intelligence specific to your property:
✓ Ward-level approval rates for your exact area
✓ Common refusal reasons in Belfast City Council
✓ Your 10 nearest comparable planning decisions
✓ Appeal success rates
✓ PDF report to share with your architect
Free planning check for Belfast City Council →
Free. Based on 13,582 decisions.
Compare with nearby councils
Frequently asked questions about planning in Belfast City Council
What is the planning approval rate in Belfast City Council?
Based on 13,582 planning decisions analysed since 2020, Belfast City Council approved 94.2% of applications and refused 5.8%. The council is ranked 206th out of 279 UK councils for approval rate.
Which areas of Belfast City Council have the highest planning approval rates?
Approval rates in Belfast City Council vary by ward — see the ward breakdown above for detailed figures for each area.
What types of planning application are most common in Belfast City Council?
The most common planning application types in Belfast City Council are: Other (13,582 decisions, 94.2% approved).
How long does a planning application take in Belfast City Council?
Planning applications in Belfast City Council take an average of 23.2 weeks to reach a decision, measured across 13,261 decisions with a recorded timeline. That is slower than the 8-week statutory target for householder applications (the statutory targets are 8 weeks for householder applications and 13 weeks for major developments). PlanningLens measures the actual time each application takes, not just the target. Belfast City Council decides approximately 2,264 planning applications per year.
How do I check planning applications in Belfast City Council?
You can search planning applications in Belfast City Council directly on the council's official planning portal. PlanningLens also lets you check any postcode against 13,582 historical decisions in Belfast City Council to see what's been approved and refused near a specific property.
How is PlanningLens approval rate data for Belfast City Council calculated?
PlanningLens scrapes Belfast City Council's official planning portal and analyses every published decision since January 2020. The approval rate is calculated as approved decisions divided by total decided applications, excluding withdrawn and pending applications. The full methodology, data sourcing, and Creative Commons BY 4.0 licensing terms are published at
planninglens.co.uk/methodology.