The Planning Postcode Lottery 2026: Where You Live Decides Your Odds and Your Wait

Two identical extensions can get very different answers depending on which side of a council boundary they fall. Using official 2025 statistics and PlanWatch's own register of 343,359 applications across 377 UK councils, we measured how much the odds and the wait vary. An application in Epping Forest was 17 times as likely to be refused as one in Fareham. In East Lindsey, the median wait for a decision was 83.5 days. In West Oxfordshire it was 51.

TL;DR

• Approval odds: England approved 87% of 300,645 decisions in 2025. Fareham approved 98%; Epping Forest approved 66.1%. London was the toughest region (82.5%) and the North East the most permissive (91.7%).
• The wait: only 43.8% of the decisions in our sample were issued within 8 calendar weeks of registration, and 20.5% took more than 13 weeks. Officially, 90.6% are "in time", because agreed extensions of time count as on time.
• Slowest and fastest: East Lindsey, Warwick and City of London had the longest median waits. West Oxfordshire, Epsom and Ewell and Chelmsford were the quickest.
• What you build matters as much as where: extensions were approved 90.6% of the time, loft and dormer schemes 86.7%, changes of use 75.9% and new homes just 69.5%.

Jump to: Approval odds by council · Decision times · Extensions vs new homes · What it means for you · Methodology · FAQ

The approval lottery: highest and lowest councils

The fairest council-by-council comparison of approval odds is the government's own: MHCLG district planning statistics, which every council reports in the same way. For calendar year 2025 they cover 300,645 decisions by 307 English planning authorities. PlanWatch's full approval-rate ranking lists every council. Here are the two ends.

The 10 most permissive councils (2025)

The 10 least permissive councils (2025)

The spread is wide. A refusal rate of 2% in Fareham against 33.9% in Epping Forest is a 17-fold difference in the chance of hearing "no". Five of the ten toughest councils are London boroughs and three more (Epping Forest, Windsor and Maidenhead, Mole Valley) border London, where pressure on space, design scrutiny and Green Belt policy are all at their highest.

By region

Want one council's figure? Each has its own page: for example Fareham or Epping Forest. The approval-rates hub lists them all.

The waiting lottery: how long councils really take

Councils have 8 weeks to decide most applications, or 13 weeks for major schemes. Official statistics say 90.6% of 2025 decisions were made "in time". That figure counts a decision as on time if it meets a deadline the applicant has agreed to extend, so it measures paperwork rather than the wait.

PlanWatch measured the wait itself. For 9,409 applications registered between January and March 2026 that have since been decided, we compared the date on each council's register with the decision date on the same register.

• Median wait: 59 days, just over the 56-day (8-week) target. Householder projects: 57 days.
• Within 8 weeks: 43.8%. Over 13 weeks: 20.5%. One in ten took more than 117 days.
• These are lower bounds. Applications from that quarter that are still undecided are not in the sample, and every one of them has already waited more than six months.

Slowest councils (median days, registration to decision)

Fastest councils

The contrast at the extremes is stark. In East Lindsey, 91.8% of decisions came after the 8-week mark. In Chelmsford, only 20.1% did. The table covers the 48 councils where PlanWatch captured at least 80 decision dates in the quarter; it includes councils in Scotland and Wales, which have their own targets.

Extensions vs new homes: what you build changes the odds

Where you live is half the lottery. The other half is the project. PlanWatch classified 27,265 decided applications with a stated outcome by what they proposed, using the same project categories as our approval-odds checker.

What stands out:

1. Small home improvements sail through. Garage conversions (93.9%) and extensions (90.6%) are the safest bets, and garage conversions are also the quickest to decide.
2. New homes are the hardest sell. 69.5% approval means nearly one in three small housing schemes was refused, and 75% took longer than 8 weeks.
3. Changes of use split councils. At 75.9% approval they are refused 2.6 times as often as extensions. This is where HMO controls, loss of shops and loss of family housing policies bite: see our Article 4 HMO directions table.
4. Loft and dormer schemes (86.7%) do slightly worse than ground-floor extensions, mostly on design and overlooking. Many need no application at all: see dormer planning permission.

A robustness check. Some council portals publish a generic "Decided" status, which leaves refusals unlabelled. Re-running the project comparison on only the 101 councils whose registers label both approvals and refusals gives almost identical results: extensions 90.4%, changes of use 74.9%, new homes 68.8%.

What this means if you are applying or objecting

If you are applying:

• Check your council's record first. Look up its approval rate and recent decisions on similar projects nearby. A refused scheme two doors down tells you more than any national average.
• Budget for 10 to 12 weeks, not 8. In most councils, the median decision lands after the target. If you have a builder booked, leave slack.
• Consider whether you need permission at all. Many extensions, lofts and outbuildings are permitted development. A lawful development certificate costs half the planning fee and confirms it in writing.
• If you are refused, you have 12 weeks to appeal a householder decision. See what to do after a refusal.

If you are a neighbour: your window to comment is usually 21 days from when the council notifies you or posts a site notice. In slow councils, applications can sit for months, but the comment window does not wait. See how long planning permission takes and how to object.

Methodology

Approval rates by council and region come from MHCLG's PS2 district planning application statistics (open data table), calendar year 2025, updated 7 April 2026. Approval rate = decisions granted divided by decisions granted or refused. It is the same dataset behind PlanWatch's UK planning approval rates 2026 report, which is downloadable as CSV.

Decision times and project-type outcomes come from PlanWatch's own database of planning register records, collected from council planning portals:

• Scope. 343,359 applications registered between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026 across 377 councils in England, Scotland and Wales. We excluded applications to discharge conditions, non-material amendments, prior approvals, lawful development certificates, demolition notices and county-matter consultations, because they follow different rules.
• Outcomes. Council portals describe outcomes in hundreds of different ways. We mapped each status to approved, approved with conditions, refused or withdrawn using PlanWatch's outcome classifier. Statuses that say only "Decided" were left out rather than guessed. Withdrawals are excluded from approval rates. 27,265 decisions had a stated outcome.
• Project types. Assigned from the application description using the same keyword rules as PlanWatch's approval-odds tool, in priority order (major development, new home, change of use, loft, garage conversion, garden building, extension, driveway). Tree works, listed building consents and adverts were classified but are not shown in the charts.
• Decision times. For the 9,409 decided applications registered from January to March 2026 that had a decision date on the council register, we measured calendar days from the register date to the decision date (1 to 365 days). Depending on the portal, the register date is the date received or the date validated. Where it is the date received, the time includes validation, which the statutory clock does not. Councils are shown only where we captured at least 80 decision dates.
• Limits. Decisions still pending are excluded, so true waits are longer than shown. Coverage of decision dates varies by portal, so the council timing table covers 48 councils, not all of them. Approval rates from register data are not directly comparable with the official figures.

Journalists and researchers: the figures in the headline box can be used with a link to this page. For the official approval-rate dataset, download the CSV.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which council approves the most planning applications?

Fareham, at 98% of 595 decisions in 2025 (MHCLG). Hammersmith and Fulham and North Kesteven followed at 97.2%.

Which council refuses the most planning applications?

Epping Forest had England's lowest approval rate in 2025 at 66.1%, followed by Barking and Dagenham and Hounslow. London was the toughest region.

How long does a planning decision really take?

In our sample the median was 59 days from registration to decision, and 43.8% were decided within 8 weeks. The official in-time rate is higher because agreed extensions count as on time.

Are extensions more likely to be approved than new houses?

Yes: 90.6% against 69.5%. A new home was 3.2 times as likely to be refused.

Can I use these figures in an article?

Yes, with credit to PlanWatch and a link to this page.

Does a high approval rate mean my application will be approved?

No. Rates reflect what gets submitted as well as how strict the council is. Your application is judged on its own merits.