Planning Approval Rate in Babergh
Babergh is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 86.5% of applications and decides 94.3% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #198 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Babergh, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Babergh.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 835 decisions (722 granted, 113 refused).
How Babergh compares
| Babergh | 86.5% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Babergh is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Babergh?
Babergh is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 86.5% of the applications it decides (rank 198th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 86.5% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 24th most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 113 of its 835 decisions were refusals (13.5%). On the split by scale it is far tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 65.2% of major developments approved versus 90.8% of householder and other small-scale work, from 23 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 94.3% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 835 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its East of England neighbours it sits between Maldon (86.8%, more approving) and Braintree (86.4%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Babergh with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in East of England. See the full East of England league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Babergh
Live planning activity in Babergh
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 11 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Babergh
Where planning activity concentrates in Babergh
Recent applications in Babergh
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Babergh page.
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Planning permission in Babergh: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Babergh?
On the latest official figures Babergh is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 86.5% of the 835 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Babergh approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 86.5% approved and 13.5% refused — 722 granted and 113 refused of 835 decisions, with major schemes approved at 65.2% and householder and other work at 90.8%.
How quickly does Babergh decide planning applications?
On timing Babergh is a little faster than average: 94.3% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Babergh stricter than nearby councils?
Babergh's 86.5% approval rate makes it the 24th most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring Maldon approves 86.8% and Braintree 86.4%.
Can I use Babergh's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Babergh 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 Babergh 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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