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 simplest signals of where a scheme — and the work that follows it — is most likely to go ahead. Here is what the number actually 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 — 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 It is not the share of all applications: pending and withdrawn applications sit outside the calculation, which is why the rate moves as a council clears its backlog.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 toward 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 — 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 simply 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 like-for-like: residential against residential, major against major, and over the same window.

How to compare councils with SiteLens

SiteLens tracks the planning register for every UK local planning authority and surfaces the numbers that matter on each council’s page — recent application volume, major-scheme count, approval rate and average 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.
• Use the council comparison tool to put two councils 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.

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.

Sources

• Planning applications in England: statistics — GOV.UK
• Determining a planning application — GOV.UK planning guidance