Planning Approval Rate in Brentwood
Brentwood is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 83.3% of applications and decides 94.3% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #248 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Brentwood, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Brentwood Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 742 decisions (618 granted, 124 refused).
How Brentwood compares
| Brentwood | 83.3% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Brentwood is 3.7 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Brentwood?
Brentwood is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 83.3% of the applications it decides (rank 248th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 83.3% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 33rd most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 124 of its 742 decisions were refusals (16.7%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 84.2% of major developments approved versus 84.8% of householder and other small-scale work, from 19 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 94.3% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 742 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 Peterborough (83.6%, more approving) and Harlow (81.5%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Brentwood 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 Brentwood
Live planning activity in Brentwood Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 21 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Brentwood Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Brentwood Borough Council
Recent applications in Brentwood Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Brentwood page.
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Planning permission in Brentwood: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Brentwood?
On the latest official figures Brentwood is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 83.3% of the 742 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Brentwood approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 83.3% approved and 16.7% refused — 618 granted and 124 refused of 742 decisions, with major schemes approved at 84.2% and householder and other work at 84.8%.
How quickly does Brentwood decide planning applications?
On timing Brentwood is a little faster than average: 94.3% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Brentwood stricter than nearby councils?
Brentwood's 83.3% approval rate makes it the 33rd most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring Peterborough approves 83.6% and Harlow 81.5%.
Can I use Brentwood's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Brentwood 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 Brentwood 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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