Our approach to collecting and analysing planning decision data across England, Scotland and Wales.
PlanningLens analyses planning application decisions from 236 councils, covering 2,589,139 planning decisions. That makes it one of the largest structured planning decision databases available to homeowners in the UK. We add new councils regularly and update existing data on an ongoing basis.
Our automated systems read publicly available planning decision records from council portals. For each application, we extract the reference number, address, ward, proposal description, application type, and decision outcome. All data comes from publicly available council records — we do not access any private or restricted information.
Each planning decision is classified based on the decision wording used by the council:
Approved — includes decisions worded as granted, approved, permitted, consent given, prior approval given, and similar positive outcomes.
Refused — includes decisions worded as refused, rejected, declined, dismissed, and similar negative outcomes.
Excluded — withdrawn applications, applications with no recorded decision, and procedural outcomes. These are not included in approval rate calculations.
Approval rate = approved applications divided by total decided applications, multiplied by 100. Only applications with a clear approved or refused outcome are included.
Rates are calculated at three levels: council-wide, by ward, and by application type. The approval likelihood score shown on our homepage uses a weighted blend of these three factors, with application type weighted most heavily.
Comparable decisions shown on council pages and in Pro Reports are filtered to residential planning applications only. We exclude tree works, discharge of conditions, telecoms applications, signage, and other non-residential application types to ensure relevance to homeowners.
Where possible, planning applications are geocoded using postcode data from postcodes.io. This enables distance-based analysis in Pro Reports, showing approval rates within 500m, 1km, and 2km of your property. Not all councils publish postcodes for every application, so coverage varies.
Planning statistics are based on historical data and do not predict future outcomes. Every application is assessed on its own merits by the local planning authority. Approval rates can vary significantly between wards, application types, and time periods.
PlanningLens provides data analysis for informational purposes only. We are not a planning consultancy and do not provide formal planning advice. If you need professional planning guidance, we recommend consulting a qualified planning consultant or contacting your local planning authority.
Our council-level planning data is available as a structured JSON file for researchers, journalists, and developers. It includes approval rates, ward-level breakdowns, and application type statistics for every council we track.
Download: councils.json — 236 councils, 2,589,139 decisions. Attribution required.
Questions about our methodology or data? Email hello@planninglens.co.uk.