May 2026 · Data

UK council planning approval rates: how to compare councils in 2026

Two neighbouring councils can approve very different shares of the applications they receive. If you build, supply, or develop, the approval rate is one of the clearest signals of where a scheme, and the work that follows it, is most likely to go ahead. Here is what the number measures, why it varies, and how to compare councils properly before you target an area.

What a planning approval rate measures

A council’s approval rate is the share of decided applications that were granted permission over a period, meaning approvals divided by total decisions. It is not the share of all applications: pending and withdrawn applications sit outside the calculation, which is why the rate moves as a council clears its backlog.

That detail matters. A council that has just decided a batch of straightforward householder applications will look different from one working through a queue of contested major schemes. Always read an approval rate alongside the volume it is calculated from and the mix of application types behind it.

Why approval rates vary between councils

Local plan status. A council with an up-to-date, adopted local plan can approve policy-compliant schemes quickly and confidently. A council without one is more exposed to refusals and appeals.
Housing pressure and targets. Under the 2026 NPPF reforms, mandatory housing targets push under-delivering authorities towards more approvals, changing the rate over time.
Application mix. Householder extensions are approved at far higher rates than major or contentious commercial schemes. A council dominated by minor residential work will show a higher headline rate.
Delegation. Applications decided by officers under delegated powers are typically policy-compliant and approved. Committee-routed applications are more likely to be refused.
Designations. Green belt, conservation areas, flood zones and AONBs all raise the bar, so councils with more constrained land tend to refuse more.

What counts as a “good” approval rate?

There is no single benchmark, and chasing the highest number is the wrong instinct. A very high rate can mean a council mostly handles minor work. A moderate rate on a high volume of major applications can be a far stronger signal of real development activity. Compare on the same basis: residential against residential, major against major, and over the same window.

How to compare councils with SiteLens

SiteLens tracks the planning register across 380+ UK councils and surfaces the numbers that matter on each council’s page: recent application volume, major-scheme count, approval rate and median decision time. Three quick ways to use it:

Open any council page (for example Birmingham, Leeds or Glasgow) to see its current stats and the most recent applications.
Open two council pages in separate tabs to put their stats side by side on application volume, approval rate and decision time.
Browse the full directory of councils we cover to find the authorities in your patch.

SiteLens Pro takes this further with analytics that break down approval rate and median decision time by council and application type, so you compare the same kind of scheme rather than one council’s headline rate against another’s. Pro is £39/mo, or £29/mo billed annually, with no contract.

Architects and planning consultants read a council’s approval rate beside its decisions and appeals before advising a client on an application, and small developers compare councils before committing to a site.

New to this? Start with how to find planning applications in your area, the free and paid routes, and how to choose between them.

Approval rate isn’t everything

Treat the rate as one input, not the answer. A high approval rate with slow decision times still ties up cash flow. A moderate rate with high major-scheme volume may hold more opportunity than a high rate on minor work. Read approval rate, decision time and the mix of applications together, and act at validation, when the scheme first appears on the register, rather than at decision when the supply chain is already being lined up.

Approval rates by council

Approval rates worked out from each council’s own planning register, A to Z. Open a council for its latest applications.

Council	Region	Approval rate	Decisions
Aberdeenshire	North East Scotland	98%	158
Angus	Central Scotland	96%	98
Argyll and Bute	West Scotland	98%	240
Babergh	East of England	87%	511
Barking and Dagenham	London	85%	41
Barnet	London	85%	65
Basildon	East of England	88%	264
Basingstoke and Deane	South East	93%	233
Bexley	London	93%	339
Birmingham	West Midlands	70%	114
Blackpool	North West	87%	47
Bolsover	East Midlands	97%	75
Bradford	Yorkshire	82%	708
Brent	London	78%	652
Bridgend	South Wales	96%	56
Bristol	South West	90%	722
Broadland	East of England	94%	237
Bromley	London	78%	59
Broxbourne	East of England	86%	95
Buckinghamshire	South East	79%	187
Calderdale	Yorkshire	85%	100
Cambridge	East of England	93%	429
Canterbury	South East	98%	259
Cardiff	South Wales	97%	243
Charnwood	East Midlands	93%	156
Chelmsford	East of England	86%	256
Cheshire East	North West	92%	37
Chorley	North West	94%	149
City of London	London	100%	359
Clackmannanshire	Central Scotland	94%	33
Cornwall	South West	95%	894
Cotswold	South West	91%	363
Crawley	South East	89%	37
Croydon	London	85%	424
Dartford	South East	77%	188
Dorset	South West	78%	32
Dudley	West Midlands	84%	81
Dumfries and Galloway	South Scotland	95%	183
Dundee	Central Scotland	98%	89
Durham	North East	94%	420
Ealing	London	78%	151
East Ayrshire	South West Scotland	96%	102
East Cambridgeshire	East of England	95%	172
East Lindsey	East Midlands	90%	206
East Riding	Yorkshire	89%	576
East Staffordshire	West Midlands	92%	90
East Suffolk	East of England	98%	296
Edinburgh	Central Scotland	91%	449
Elmbridge	South East	68%	227
Enfield	London	65%	539
Epping Forest	East of England	80%	420
Falkirk	Central Scotland	100%	78
Fife	Central Scotland	96%	422
Flintshire	North Wales	90%	158
Fylde	North West	96%	89
Glasgow	Central Scotland	85%	303
Gosport	South East	96%	27
Gravesham	South East	84%	174
Greenwich	London	79%	448
Hackney	London	82%	22
Halton	North West	94%	68
Harrow	London	77%	30
Hart	South East	94%	147
Hastings	South East	80%	111
Highland	Highlands and Islands	96%	233
Hinckley and Bosworth	East Midlands	91%	124
Horsham	South East	94%	323
Hounslow	London	80%	254
Huntingdonshire	East of England	92%	217
Islington	London	95%	394
Kensington & Chelsea	London	92%	878
Kingston upon Thames	London	83%	119
Knowsley	North West	98%	85
Lambeth	London	79%	510
Leeds	Yorkshire	80%	1,046
Lewisham	London	84%	373
Lincoln	East Midlands	93%	121
Luton	East of England	79%	207
Maidstone	South East	86%	357
Maldon	East of England	84%	136
Medway	South East	90%	328
Merton	London	95%	111
Mid Sussex	South East	94%	339
Middlesbrough	North East	93%	81
Mole Valley	South East	84%	170
Monmouthshire	South Wales	98%	171
Newcastle	North East	95%	63
Newcastle-under-Lyme	West Midlands	97%	109
Newham	London	84%	257
Newport	South Wales	77%	147
North East Lincolnshire	Yorkshire	91%	92
North Kesteven	East Midlands	98%	126
North Northamptonshire	East Midlands	83%	264
North Warwickshire	West Midlands	96%	24
North Yorkshire	Yorkshire	90%	371
Northumberland	North East	88%	588
Nottingham	East Midlands	94%	262
Oxford	South East	92%	141
Peterborough	East of England	86%	201
Redbridge	London	87%	546
Richmond upon Thames	London	87%	581
Rugby	West Midlands	91%	33
Sandwell	West Midlands	85%	143
Sevenoaks	South East	84%	303
Sheffield	Yorkshire	89%	370
Shropshire	West Midlands	93%	463
South Ayrshire	West Scotland	97%	99
South Cambridgeshire	East of England	95%	476
South Hams	South West	92%	250
Southampton	South East	81%	81
Southwark	London	96%	443
Spelthorne	South East	87%	174
Stafford	West Midlands	79%	116
Stirling	Central Scotland	100%	99
Stockport	North West	95%	500
Sunderland	North East	90%	136
Sutton	London	80%	162
Tameside	North West	92%	229
Teignbridge	South West	84%	199
Test Valley	South East	90%	241
Tewkesbury	South West	88%	137
Three Rivers	East of England	92%	139
Thurrock	East of England	87%	248
Torbay	South West	81%	118
Torfaen	South Wales	92%	104
Tower Hamlets	London	89%	467
Trafford	North West	87%	511
Uttlesford	East of England	80%	375
Wakefield	Yorkshire	88%	317
Waltham Forest	London	65%	20
Wandsworth	London	86%	255
Warwick	West Midlands	95%	296
Wealden	South East	85%	368
West Berkshire	South East	94%	189
West Oxfordshire	South East	94%	346
Westminster	London	94%	47
Wiltshire	South West	95%	633
Windsor and Maidenhead	South East	80%	509
Woking	South East	87%	215
Wychavon	West Midlands	88%	349

Approval rate: of the approvals and refusals SiteLens recorded for a council in the 90 days to 3 November 2026, the share that were approvals. Withdrawn applications and other outcomes are left out. A rate is shown where SiteLens recorded at least 20 approvals or refusals in those 90 days, the same rule as the council’s own page, worked out from the council’s public planning register. Decisions: the number of approvals and refusals the rate is based on.

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