Plymouth Council approves 93.0% of planning applications, based on 6,550 real decisions analysed from the council’s public planning portal. The national average across all councils tracked by PlanningLens is 88.0%. Plymouth sits 5.0 percentage points above the national average.
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 Plymouth.
| Application Type | Approved | Refused | Total | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full | 3,363 | 283 | 3,646 | 92.2% |
| Trees | 1,120 | 47 | 1,167 | 96.0% |
| Other | 743 | 82 | 825 | 90.1% |
| Listed Building | 386 | 17 | 403 | 95.8% |
| Advertisement | 256 | 14 | 270 | 94.8% |
| Discharge of Conditions | 225 | 14 | 239 | 94.1% |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Peter And The Waterfront | 889 | 42 | 931 | 95.5% |
| Compton | 502 | 44 | 546 | 91.9% |
| Plymstock Radford | 477 | 42 | 519 | 91.9% |
| Moorview | 400 | 23 | 423 | 94.6% |
| Stoke | 351 | 22 | 373 | 94.1% |
| Plymstock Dunstone | 344 | 19 | 363 | 94.8% |
| Plympton St Mary | 331 | 29 | 360 | 91.9% |
| Budshead | 310 | 23 | 333 | 93.1% |
| Peverell | 309 | 20 | 329 | 93.9% |
| Eggbuckland | 275 | 27 | 302 | 91.1% |
| Drake | 252 | 19 | 271 | 93.0% |
| Plympton Erle | 249 | 11 | 260 | 95.8% |
| Devonport | 237 | 18 | 255 | 92.9% |
| Sutton And Mount Gould | 234 | 19 | 253 | 92.5% |
| Southway | 191 | 18 | 209 | 91.4% |
| St Budeaux | 172 | 24 | 196 | 87.8% |
| Efford And Lipson | 166 | 26 | 192 | 86.5% |
| Honicknowle | 154 | 16 | 170 | 90.6% |
| HAM | 125 | 10 | 135 | 92.6% |
| Plympton Chaddlewood | 122 | 5 | 127 | 96.1% |
How Plymouth’s planning approval rate has changed year by year — down 0.8pp since 2020.
Bar height reflects approval rate. Colour: green ≥85%, amber ≥70%, red below 70%.
Real residential planning decisions from Plymouth council. Each reference links to the council's own planning portal so you can verify the details yourself.
| Reference | Proposal | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| 26/00217/PRDE Plymstock Dunstone | Proposed rear dormer and single storey rear extension | Approved |
| 26/00169/TCO Compton | T1 - Beech - Reduce tree in height by 3-4m and sides by 2-3m. | Approved |
| 26/00126/EXUS Drake | To establish use as a Sui Generis 10 bedroom HMO | Approved |
| 26/00046/GP1 HAM | Single-storey rear extension which extends beyond the rear wall of the original | Approved |
| 26/00012/TPO Moorview | T10 Ash - Remove lowest limb West over garden back to main stem. T11 Ash - Reduc | Approved |
| 25/01645/FUL Plympton St Mary | Single storey rear extension and associated steps | Approved |
| 25/01640/FUL Compton | Front hardstanding (retrospective) | Approved |
| 25/01623/FUL Plymstock Radford | Loft conversion with rear dormer | Approved |
| 25/01620/LBC St Peter And The Waterfront | Replacement of 21no. timber single-glazed windows with timber double-glazed wind | Approved |
| 25/01615/11 Moorview | Prior approval for demolition of a dwellinghouse | 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 Plymouth's 6,550 real decisions. Free, emailed in minutes.
Check my postcodeCompare Plymouth's planning approval rates with neighbouring areas:
Dig deeper into Plymouth'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 Plymouth. Enter your postcode to instantly see approval rates for your ward and application type, based on 6,550 real decisions from Plymouth 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 Plymouth'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 6,550 planning decisions, the overall approval rate in Plymouth is 93.0%. The national average across councils tracked by PlanningLens is 88.0%. Rates vary significantly by ward and application type.
PlanningLens has analysed 6,550 planning decisions from Plymouth council. 6,093 were approved and 457 were refused. These figures cover decisions from January 2020 to the present.
The average approval rate in Plymouth is 93.0%, 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.