Planning Approval Rate in Birmingham
Birmingham is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 82.6% of applications and decides 75.4% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #253 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Birmingham: 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 Birmingham planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 3,533 decisions (2,920 granted, 613 refused).
How Birmingham compares
| Birmingham | 82.6% |
| West Midlands average | 87.8% |
| England average | 87% |
Birmingham is 4.4 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Birmingham?
Birmingham is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 82.6% of the applications it decides (rank 253rd of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 82.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within West Midlands it is the 28th most approving of 30 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.8%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 613 of its 3,533 decisions were refusals (17.4%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 91.2% of major developments approved versus 83.7% of householder and other small-scale work, from 91 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 75.4% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 3,533 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its West Midlands neighbours it sits between Malvern Hills (82.8%, more approving) and Staffordshire Moorlands (80%, stricter). For context in West Midlands, Redditch approves the most (96.2%) and Lichfield the least (79.7%).
Compare Birmingham with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in West Midlands. See the full West Midlands league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Birmingham
Live planning activity in Birmingham City Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 8 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Birmingham City Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Birmingham City Council
Recent applications in Birmingham City Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Birmingham planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Birmingham: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Birmingham?
On the latest official figures Birmingham is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 82.6% of the 3,533 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Birmingham approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 82.6% approved and 17.4% refused — 2,920 granted and 613 refused of 3,533 decisions, with major schemes approved at 91.2% and householder and other work at 83.7%.
How quickly does Birmingham decide planning applications?
On timing Birmingham is among the slower authorities: 75.4% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Birmingham stricter than nearby councils?
Birmingham's 82.6% approval rate makes it the 28th most approving of 30 authorities in West Midlands, against a 87.8% regional average. Neighbouring Malvern Hills approves 82.8% and Staffordshire Moorlands 80%.
Can I use Birmingham's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Birmingham 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 Birmingham City 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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