Staffordshire planning approval rate
Staffordshire council approved 99.4% of planning applications and refused 0.6%, based on 1,882 decisions analysed. Ranked 277th out of 279 councils for strictness.
Last updated: June 2026 · Based on decisions from January 2020 to present
99.4%
overall approval rate
Planning in Staffordshire?
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 Staffordshire. 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 Staffordshire — mined from 1,882 proposal descriptions.
Approval rate by ward
Planning outcomes vary significantly by ward within Staffordshire. Click any ward for detailed statistics.
Burton Town ED (40 decided)
100.0%
Brewood ED (26 decided)
100.0%
Cheslyn Hay, Essington and Great Wyrley ED (24 decided)
95.8%
Lichfield Rural North ED (22 decided)
100.0%
Lichfield Rural South ED (20 decided)
100.0%
Keele, Knutton and Silverdale ED (20 decided)
100.0%
Wards in Staffordshire
Recent comparable decisions
The most recent residential planning decisions in Staffordshire, showing how the council decides real applications.
SMDC consultation: Full planning application for residential development · Cheadle and Checkley ED · 2026-06-15
Outline planning application for up to 100 dwellings · Lichfield Rural South ED · 2026-06-05
NuLBC Council consultation: outline proposal for 620 dwellings · Westlands and Thistleberry ED, Keele, Knutton and Silverdale ED · 2026-06-01
Showing 3 of 200 comparable decisions. See all 200 in the full report →
What gets approved near your property?
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 Staffordshire
✓ Your 10 nearest comparable planning decisions
✓ Appeal success rates
✓ PDF report to share with your architect
Free planning check for Staffordshire →
Free. Based on 1,882 decisions.
Compare with nearby councils
Frequently asked questions about planning in Staffordshire
What is the planning approval rate in Staffordshire?
Based on 1,882 planning decisions analysed since 2020, Staffordshire approved 99.4% of applications and refused 0.6%. The council is ranked 277th out of 279 UK councils for approval rate.
Which areas of Staffordshire have the highest planning approval rates?
Approval rates in Staffordshire vary by ward — see the ward breakdown above for detailed figures for each area.
What types of planning application are most common in Staffordshire?
The most common planning application types in Staffordshire are: Other (771 decisions, 99.7% approved), Discharge of Conditions (692, 99.3%), and Full (339, 99.4%).
How long does a planning application take in Staffordshire?
Planning applications in Staffordshire take an average of 16.7 weeks to reach a decision, measured across 192 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. Staffordshire decides approximately 314 planning applications per year.
How do I check planning applications in Staffordshire?
You can search planning applications in Staffordshire directly on the council's official planning portal. PlanningLens also lets you check any postcode against 1,882 historical decisions in Staffordshire to see what's been approved and refused near a specific property.
How is PlanningLens approval rate data for Staffordshire calculated?
PlanningLens scrapes Staffordshire'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.