Planning Approval Rate in Brent
Brent is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 79.1% of applications and decides 95.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #283 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Brent, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Brent.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 2,022 decisions (1,600 granted, 422 refused).
How Brent compares
| Brent | 79.1% |
| London average | 82.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Brent is 7.9 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Brent?
Brent is among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, granting 79.1% of the applications it decides (rank 283rd of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 79.1% approved against an England average of 87%. Within London it is the 22nd most approving of 34 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 82.5%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 422 of its 2,022 decisions were refusals (20.9%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 91.7% of major developments approved versus 79.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 24 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 95.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 2,022 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its London neighbours it sits between Lambeth (79.9%, more approving) and Enfield (78.8%, stricter). For context in London, Hammersmith and Fulham approves the most (97.2%) and Barking and Dagenham the least (66.2%).
Compare Brent with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in London. See the full London league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Brent
Live planning activity in Brent
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 27 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Brent
Where planning activity concentrates in Brent
Recent applications in Brent
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Brent page.
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Planning permission in Brent: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Brent?
On the latest official figures Brent is somewhat stricter than the England average and among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, approving 79.1% of the 2,022 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Brent approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 79.1% approved and 20.9% refused — 1,600 granted and 422 refused of 2,022 decisions, with major schemes approved at 91.7% and householder and other work at 79.4%.
How quickly does Brent decide planning applications?
On timing Brent is a little faster than average: 95.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Brent stricter than nearby councils?
Brent's 79.1% approval rate makes it the 22nd most approving of 34 authorities in London, against a 82.5% regional average. Neighbouring Lambeth approves 79.9% and Enfield 78.8%.
Can I use Brent's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Brent 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 Brent 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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