Planning Approval Rate in Basildon
Basildon is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 84.3% of applications and decides 81.7% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #235 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Basildon, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Basildon Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 781 decisions (658 granted, 123 refused).
How Basildon compares
| Basildon | 84.3% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Basildon is 2.7 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Basildon?
Basildon is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 84.3% of the applications it decides (rank 235th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 84.3% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 29th most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 123 of its 781 decisions were refusals (15.7%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 96.3% of major developments approved versus 85.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 27 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 81.7% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 781 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 Broxbourne (84.9%, more approving) and Breckland (84%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Basildon 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 Basildon
Live planning activity in Basildon Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 26 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Basildon Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Basildon Borough Council
Recent applications in Basildon Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Basildon page.
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Planning permission in Basildon: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Basildon?
On the latest official figures Basildon is close to the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 84.3% of the 781 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Basildon approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 84.3% approved and 15.7% refused — 658 granted and 123 refused of 781 decisions, with major schemes approved at 96.3% and householder and other work at 85.4%.
How quickly does Basildon decide planning applications?
On timing Basildon is among the slower authorities: 81.7% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Basildon stricter than nearby councils?
Basildon's 84.3% approval rate makes it the 29th most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring Broxbourne approves 84.9% and Breckland 84%.
Can I use Basildon's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Basildon 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 Basildon 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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