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Planning approval rates by council

Compare planning permission success rates across 242 councils, ranked by approval rate. Based on 2,672,205 real decisions.

Last updated: May 2026

242
Councils covered
2,672,205
Decisions analysed
1840
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 Oadby & Wigston 82.8% 2,159 10
27 Lewisham 82.9% 24,367 38
28 Selby 83.0% 5,669 25
29 Middlesbrough 83.1% 3,412 22
30 Caerphilly 83.2% 1,944 39
31 Leicester 83.3% 538 21
32 Birmingham 83.8% 33,111 0
33 Brentwood 83.8% 11,640 17
34 Coventry 83.8% 1,909 18
35 Sutton 83.9% 17,407 78
36 Bassetlaw 84.5% 4,404 25
37 Lambeth 84.6% 30,422 91
38 Blackpool 84.7% 554 21
39 Newham 84.7% 20,907 47
40 Bexley 84.9% 20,572 57
41 Lichfield 84.9% 2,583 22
42 Gloucester 85.1% 4,057 18
43 Hertsmere 85.1% 3,094 17
44 Windsor & Maidenhead 85.2% 6,575 20
45 Hart 85.5% 9,970 11
46 Chelmsford 85.7% 505 0
47 Merton 85.9% 17,557 66
48 Ealing 86.0% 67,567 54
49 Swansea 86.1% 2,873 42
50 Flintshire 86.3% 5,930 52
51 Kirklees 86.3% 29,619 23
52 Dartmoor NPA 86.4% 4,244 4
53 Gravesham 86.4% 550 17
54 Hastings 86.4% 5,869 31
55 Pendle 86.4% 3,290 30
56 West Berkshire 86.5% 289 20
57 Hackney 86.6% 18,634 47
58 Leeds 86.6% 44,615 33
59 Castle Point 86.7% 2,500 18
60 Sevenoaks 86.8% 12,687 27
61 Bristol 86.9% 24,529 34
62 South Gloucestershire 86.9% 15,285 39
63 Tameside 87.1% 3,465 19
64 Thanet 87.1% 27,009 23
65 Richmond 87.3% 32,316 55
66 Newark & Sherwood 87.4% 9,966 22
67 Sefton 87.5% 6,453 22
68 Calderdale 87.6% 13,254 17
69 Hounslow 87.7% 72,195 111
70 New Forest 87.7% 8,940 22
71 Bolton 87.8% 3,753 27
72 Ceredigion 87.9% 37,412 41
73 Epsom & Ewell 87.9% 8,139 15
74 Manchester 87.9% 13,750 32
75 Glasgow 88.1% 39,359 23
76 Dartford 88.2% 7,102 28
77 Isle of Wight 88.2% 14,098 59
78 Trafford 88.2% 13,295 33
79 Haringey 88.4% 23,488 58
80 Portsmouth 88.5% 9,214 14
81 Liverpool 88.6% 48,036 104
82 Oldham 88.6% 6,836 20
83 Reigate & Banstead 88.6% 13,287 17
84 Sunderland 88.6% 10,482 25
85 Rushcliffe 88.8% 7,470 30
86 Cheshire East 89.0% 12,643 54
87 Tower Hamlets 89.0% 26,296 39
88 Maidstone 89.2% 418 32
89 Swale 89.2% 416 31
90 Dudley 89.4% 13,083 56
91 Kingston upon Hull 89.4% 6,152 21
92 Burnley 89.6% 259 15
93 Wigan 89.6% 4,758 29
94 Wakefield 89.7% 12,601 21
95 Warwick 89.7% 12,594 27
96 Basingstoke & Deane 89.8% 11,049 18
97 Brighton & Hove 89.8% 3,163 33
98 City of Edinburgh 89.8% 34,504 36
99 Powys 89.8% 7,013 65
100 Cannock Chase 89.9% 2,556 45
101 Chichester 89.9% 2,709 17
102 Barnsley 90.0% 24,616 46
103 Newport 90.0% 4,824 22
104 Basildon 90.1% 578 14
105 South Ayrshire 90.1% 364 8
106 Tonbridge & Malling 90.1% 7,950 35
107 Luton 90.2% 3,235 19
108 North Somerset 90.2% 19,330 36
109 North East Derbyshire 90.3% 6,406 26
110 York 90.3% 10,877 21
111 Cambridge 90.4% 5,770 43
112 Chesterfield 90.4% 4,800 27
113 East Cambridgeshire 90.5% 10,928 23
114 Exeter 90.5% 6,750 13
115 Pembrokeshire Coast NPA 90.5% 2,969 40
116 Spelthorne 90.5% 717 14
117 Surrey Heath 90.5% 4,021 17
118 Forest of Dean 90.6% 6,046 21
119 Fife 90.7% 5,321 24
120 Southampton 90.7% 1,007 17
121 West Lothian 90.7% 13,423 10
122 Sheffield 90.8% 6,165 28
123 Tendring 90.8% 316 21
124 Westminster 90.8% 60,698 99
125 Rossendale 90.9% 453 12
126 Cairngorms NP 91.0% 279 6
127 Great Yarmouth 91.0% 2,418 0
128 Tewkesbury 91.0% 6,410 22
129 Bury 91.2% 4,896 18
130 Horsham 91.2% 12,372 22
131 Lake District NPA 91.2% 7,872 63
132 Test Valley 91.2% 5,558 27
133 Rutland 91.3% 21,322 20
134 Doncaster 91.4% 11,315 22
135 Stroud 91.4% 9,223 27
136 Lewes & Eastbourne 91.5% 1,948 18
137 Oxford 91.5% 5,477 31
138 Darlington 91.6% 2,301 20
139 Hinckley & Bosworth 91.6% 3,754 16
140 Cheshire West & Chester 91.9% 16,054 49
141 Exmoor NPA 92.0% 1,828 0
142 Camden 92.1% 19,373 85
143 Hammersmith & Fulham 92.1% 19,357 43
144 Babergh Mid Suffolk 92.3% 4,495 51
145 Gedling 92.3% 4,194 19
146 Dorset 92.4% 8,267 53
147 Telford & Wrekin 92.4% 15,051 47
148 Torfaen 92.4% 4,592 25
149 Kensington & Chelsea 92.5% 33,175 37
150 Norwich 92.6% 8,179 14
151 Blaby 92.7% 2,288 31
152 Rotherham 92.7% 2,503 25
153 Sandwell 92.9% 6,354 24
154 Solihull 92.9% 4,406 17
155 Plymouth 93.0% 6,550 20
156 Three Rivers 93.0% 3,012 29
157 Bromsgrove & Redditch 93.1% 1,868 46
158 Newcastle upon Tyne 93.1% 8,785 26
159 Adur & Worthing 93.2% 13,786 27
160 Chorley 93.2% 3,509 30
161 Dover 93.2% 6,755 28
162 King's Lynn & West Norfolk 93.2% 2,011 34
163 South Downs 93.2% 10,511 71
164 Torridge 93.2% 8,020 24
165 Bath & NE Somerset 93.3% 36,819 41
166 Lancaster 93.3% 4,014 60
167 Southwark 93.3% 28,675 51
168 Derby 93.4% 3,995 25
169 Wandsworth 93.5% 26,261 76
170 Arun 93.6% 3,032 0
171 Nottingham 93.6% 6,278 21
172 Derbyshire Dales 93.7% 3,869 21
173 Newcastle-under-Lyme 93.7% 526 20
174 Gateshead 93.8% 7,156 22
175 Stevenage 93.8% 3,606 14
176 Cornwall 93.9% 6,212 184
177 Yorkshire Dales NPA 93.9% 4,168 0
178 Mid Sussex 94.0% 7,819 28
179 North East Lincolnshire 94.0% 3,036 15
180 Rugby 94.0% 6,135 27
181 Broadland 94.1% 3,348 28
182 Dundee 94.1% 10,343 8
183 Aberdeen 94.3% 21,448 14
184 Swindon 94.3% 3,908 38
185 West Oxfordshire 94.3% 6,435 27
186 Highland 94.4% 1,987 21
187 North Tyneside 94.4% 5,719 34
188 South Holland 94.4% 1,293 0
189 West Lancashire 94.4% 6,536 40
190 Knowsley 94.5% 4,280 15
191 North York Moors 94.5% 3,130 0
192 Perth & Kinross 94.5% 22,100 12
193 East Lindsey 94.6% 6,795 37
194 North Norfolk 94.6% 2,008 32
195 North Northamptonshire 94.6% 4,238 10
196 Broxtowe 94.7% 4,581 25
197 Winchester 94.9% 6,515 16
198 Canterbury 95.0% 10,484 21
199 County Durham 95.0% 14,377 113
200 Bolsover 95.1% 2,043 17
201 Stirling 95.2% 12,182 7
202 Stockton-on-Tees 95.2% 2,158 30
203 Lincoln 95.3% 6,781 11
204 South Ribble 95.3% 4,090 23
205 South Tyneside 95.3% 3,235 0
206 Cotswold 95.6% 23,108 32
207 East Ayrshire 95.6% 1,112 9
208 Argyll & Bute 95.7% 3,738 12
209 Midlothian 95.7% 951 6
210 Melton 95.8% 3,647 16
211 Cheltenham 95.9% 13,600 20
212 Huntingdonshire 95.9% 4,137 32
213 Orkney 96.0% 7,933 6
214 Angus 96.1% 13,888 11
215 Hambleton 96.5% 4,027 45
216 Rushmoor 96.5% 4,157 14
217 South Norfolk 96.8% 3,731 28
218 South Lanarkshire 96.9% 25,858 20
219 Carlisle 97.1% 4,219 39
220 OPDC 97.3% 1,230 7
221 Gosport 97.6% 1,526 23
222 Dumfries & Galloway 97.7% 22,558 13
223 Harlow 98.0% 2,497 23
224 Clackmannanshire 98.2% 965 5
225 Moray 98.3% 1,150 8
226 Monmouthshire 98.4% 1,350 42
227 Shetland 98.4% 6,267 16
228 Falkirk 98.5% 545 9
229 LLDC 98.6% 3,226 4
230 Mid Devon 98.6% 5,869 46
231 City of London 98.7% 9,789 51
232 North Ayrshire 98.7% 999 14
233 Somerset 98.7% 553 4
234 Aberdeenshire 98.8% 1,022 19
235 Mansfield 98.8% 2,946 38
236 Fareham 99.1% 2,490 0
237 Dacorum 99.7% 1,135 25
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