Planning Approval Rate in Ashford
Ashford is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 87.2% of applications and decides 95.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #179 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Ashford: how hard it is to get planning permission, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours, from official government statistics.
Looking for a particular application rather than the statistics? Search Ashford planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,007 decisions (878 granted, 129 refused).
How Ashford compares
| Ashford | 87.2% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Ashford is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Ashford?
Ashford is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 87.2% of the applications it decides (rank 179th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 87.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 39th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 129 of its 1,007 decisions were refusals (12.8%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 78.8% of major developments approved versus 89.5% of householder and other small-scale work, from 33 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 95.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 1,007 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South East neighbours it sits between Waverley (87.3%, more approving) and Portsmouth (87.2%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Ashford with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Ashford
Live planning activity in Ashford Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 9 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Ashford Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Ashford Borough Council
Recent applications in Ashford Borough Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Ashford planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Ashford: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Ashford?
On the latest official figures Ashford is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 87.2% of the 1,007 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Ashford approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 87.2% approved and 12.8% refused — 878 granted and 129 refused of 1,007 decisions, with major schemes approved at 78.8% and householder and other work at 89.5%.
How quickly does Ashford decide planning applications?
On timing Ashford is a little faster than average: 95.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Ashford stricter than nearby councils?
Ashford's 87.2% approval rate makes it the 39th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Waverley approves 87.3% and Portsmouth 87.2%.
Can I use Ashford's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Ashford decided, not a prediction for any individual application; your outcome depends on the site, the proposal, local planning policy and any objections.
Methodology & limits
Approval, refusal and in-time rates come from the government's official PS2 planning application statistics (Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government), covering 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. This dataset is England-only and published annually, so it lags live activity. Live figures are the applications PlanWatch has collected for Ashford Borough Council and are not a complete council register. Refusal reasons and delegated-vs-committee splits are not published in this data.
This is a historic average, not a prediction. It cannot tell you whether your application will be approved — that depends on your site, proposal, local policy and any objections.
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