Hastings Council approves 86.9% of planning applications, based on 6,153 real decisions analysed from the council’s public planning portal. The national average across all councils tracked by PlanningLens is 88.6%. Hastings sits 1.7 percentage points below the national average.
According to PlanningLens analysis of 578 decided applications, Hastings Council approved 88.6% of planning applications in 2025. Across 6,153 decisions analysed since January 2020, the overall approval rate in Hastings is 86.9%; the national average across UK councils tracked by PlanningLens is 88.6%.
Source: PlanningLens (planninglens.co.uk) analysis of Hastings council planning portal records · Updated August 2026 · Quote freely with attribution
Enter your postcode for a free, personalised approval pattern report, based on your ward and application type.
Not all applications are treated equally. Extension types, listed building consent, and change of use applications each have very different success rates in Hastings.
| Application Type | Approved | Refused | Total | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full | 2,921 | 487 | 3,408 | 85.7% |
| Discharge of Conditions | 850 | 110 | 960 | 88.5% |
| Trees | 524 | 16 | 540 | 97.0% |
| Certificate of Lawfulness | 339 | 63 | 402 | 84.3% |
| Listed Building | 333 | 38 | 371 | 89.8% |
| Other | 259 | 81 | 340 | 76.2% |
| Advertisement | 120 | 12 | 132 | 90.9% |
A loft conversion in one ward can have a 90% approval rate. In the next ward, 55%. The free check tells you which side you're on, your free property report is emailed in minutes.
Check My PostcodeWard-level data reveals where planning applications are most and least likely to succeed. Officers, local policies, and neighbourhood character all play a role.
| Ward | Approved | Refused | Total | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castle 2018 | 653 | 114 | 767 | 85.1% |
| Central St Leonards 2018 | 539 | 82 | 621 | 86.8% |
| Old Hastings 2018 | 541 | 73 | 614 | 88.1% |
| Ashdown 2018 | 408 | 48 | 456 | 89.5% |
| Maze Hill 2018 | 344 | 51 | 395 | 87.1% |
| Conquest 2018 | 336 | 36 | 372 | 90.3% |
| St Helens 2018 | 295 | 45 | 340 | 86.8% |
| Gensing 2018 | 292 | 43 | 335 | 87.2% |
| West St Leonards 2018 | 277 | 48 | 325 | 85.2% |
| Silverhill 2018 | 273 | 38 | 311 | 87.8% |
| Ore 2018 | 222 | 50 | 272 | 81.6% |
| Baird 2018 | 235 | 35 | 270 | 87.0% |
| Braybrooke 2018 | 229 | 34 | 263 | 87.1% |
| Wishing Tree 2018 | 175 | 32 | 207 | 84.5% |
| Hollington 2018 | 132 | 20 | 152 | 86.8% |
| Tressell 2018 | 122 | 20 | 142 | 85.9% |
| OLD HASTINGS Pre May 2018 | 38 | 9 | 47 | 80.9% |
| CASTLE Pre May 2018 | 31 | 4 | 35 | 88.6% |
| CENTRAL ST LEONARDS Pre May 2018 | 25 | 4 | 29 | 86.2% |
| ASHDOWN Pre May 2018 | 21 | 0 | 21 | 100.0% |
| GENSING Pre May 2018 | 18 | 3 | 21 | 85.7% |
| MAZE HILL Pre May 2018 | 20 | 0 | 20 | 100.0% |
| BRAYBROOKE Pre May 2018 | 16 | 2 | 18 | 88.9% |
| SILVERHILL Pre May 2018 | 16 | 2 | 18 | 88.9% |
| ORE Pre May 2018 | 14 | 3 | 17 | 82.4% |
Showing top 25 of 31 wards by volume. Your free property report includes the full ward breakdown.
See full ward breakdown →How Hastings’s planning approval rate has changed year by year, up 6.5pp since 2018.
Bar height reflects approval rate. Colour: green ≥85%, amber ≥70%, red below 70%.
Real residential planning decisions from Hastings council. Each reference links to the council's own planning portal so you can verify the details yourself.
| Reference | Proposal | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| HS/LB/25/00609 Old Hastings 2018 | Install 2x conservation skylights to rear lean-to roof extension. Remove and rep | Approved |
| HS/FA/25/00442 Old Hastings 2018 | Install 2x conservation skylights to rear lean-to roof extension. Remove and rep | Approved |
| HS/FA/26/00271 St Helens 2018 | Single storey front extension, loft extension including raising roof to include | Approved |
| HS/FA/26/00378 Maze Hill 2018 | Proposed insertion of doors and windows to side and rear elevations. Insertion o | Approved |
| HS/FA/26/00254 Castle 2018 | Change of use of the third-floor private dwelling to additional House in Multipl | Approved |
| HS/FA/26/00235 Silverhill 2018 | Erection of garden annexe | Approved |
| HS/FA/26/00165 West St Leonards 2018 | Erection of four semi-detached, single storey dwellings | Approved |
| HS/FA/26/00324 Castle 2018 | Single rear extension and alternations to fenestration to include insertion of b | Approved |
| HS/FA/26/00317 Hollington 2018 | Erection of single-storey detached triangular-plan timber-frame workshop outbuil | Approved |
| HS/FA/26/00223 Central St Leonards 2018 | Retrospective application for works to the ground floor rear garden areas includ | Approved |
Find out what actually gets approved near your address first. Your free property report analyses the 20 nearest decisions to your property, ward-specific refusal patterns, and extension-by-extension approval patterns. Based on Hastings's 6,153 real decisions. Free, emailed in minutes.
Check my postcodeCompare Hastings's planning approval rates with neighbouring areas:
Dig deeper into Hastings's planning statistics, by ward, extension type, or project category:
Data-driven guides to help you understand planning approval patterns:
Yes. PlanningLens offers a free planning permission check for Hastings. Enter your postcode to instantly see approval rates for your ward and application type, based on 6,153 real decisions from Hastings council. The full property-specific report is also free and emailed within minutes.
Enter your postcode on PlanningLens for a free instant check based on Hastings's real planning decisions. The free property report goes further: it analyses the 20 nearest comparable decisions to your property, ward-level refusal patterns, and approval rates by application type. Free and emailed within minutes.
Based on 6,153 planning decisions, the overall approval rate in Hastings is 86.9%. The national average across councils tracked by PlanningLens is 88.6%. Rates vary significantly by ward and application type.
PlanningLens has analysed 6,153 planning decisions from Hastings council. 5,346 were approved and 807 were refused. These figures cover decisions from January 2020 to the present.
The average approval rate in Hastings is 86.9%, but outcomes depend heavily on your specific ward, the type of extension or development you are proposing, and local planning policy. Use the free PlanningLens postcode check to get a personalised score.
Writing about planning in Hastings? These figures are free to republish with attribution. Copy the one-line citation, or paste the stat box into any website, CMS or newsletter, it carries its own styling and links back to this page for verification.