Planning Approval Rate in Breckland
Breckland is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 84% of applications and decides 89.7% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #238 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Breckland, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Breckland Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 799 decisions (671 granted, 128 refused).
How Breckland compares
| Breckland | 84% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Breckland is 3 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Breckland?
Breckland is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 84% of the applications it decides (rank 238th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 84% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 30th most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 128 of its 799 decisions were refusals (16%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 92.3% of major developments approved versus 96% of householder and other small-scale work, from 39 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 89.7% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 799 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 Basildon (84.3%, more approving) and Central Bedfordshire (83.6%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Breckland 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 Breckland
Live planning activity in Breckland Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 31 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Breckland Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Breckland Council
Recent applications in Breckland Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Breckland page.
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Planning permission in Breckland: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Breckland?
On the latest official figures Breckland is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 84% of the 799 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Breckland approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 84% approved and 16% refused — 671 granted and 128 refused of 799 decisions, with major schemes approved at 92.3% and householder and other work at 96%.
How quickly does Breckland decide planning applications?
On timing Breckland is about average on speed: 89.7% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Breckland stricter than nearby councils?
Breckland's 84% approval rate makes it the 30th most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring Basildon approves 84.3% and Central Bedfordshire 83.6%.
Can I use Breckland's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Breckland 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 Breckland 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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