Planning Approval Rate in Braintree
Braintree is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 86.4% of applications and decides 95.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #200 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Braintree, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Braintree District Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 917 decisions (792 granted, 125 refused).
How Braintree compares
| Braintree | 86.4% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Braintree is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Braintree?
Braintree is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 86.4% of the applications it decides (rank 200th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 86.4% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 25th most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 125 of its 917 decisions were refusals (13.6%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 91.4% of major developments approved versus 91.7% of householder and other small-scale work, from 35 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 917 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 Babergh (86.5%, more approving) and St Albans (85.8%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Braintree 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 Braintree
Live planning activity in Braintree District Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 10 July 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Braintree District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Braintree District Council
Recent applications in Braintree District Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Braintree page.
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Planning permission in Braintree: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Braintree?
On the latest official figures Braintree is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 86.4% of the 917 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Braintree approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 86.4% approved and 13.6% refused — 792 granted and 125 refused of 917 decisions, with major schemes approved at 91.4% and householder and other work at 91.7%.
How quickly does Braintree decide planning applications?
On timing Braintree 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 Braintree stricter than nearby councils?
Braintree's 86.4% approval rate makes it the 25th most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring Babergh approves 86.5% and St Albans 85.8%.
Can I use Braintree's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Braintree 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 Braintree District 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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