Planning Approval Rate in Broxbourne
Broxbourne is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 84.9% of applications and decides 88.7% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #227 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Broxbourne, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Broxbourne Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 477 decisions (405 granted, 72 refused).
How Broxbourne compares
| Broxbourne | 84.9% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Broxbourne is 2.1 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Broxbourne?
Broxbourne is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 84.9% of the applications it decides (rank 227th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 84.9% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 28th most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 72 of its 477 decisions were refusals (15.1%). On the split by scale it is far tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 73.3% of major developments approved versus 88.5% of householder and other small-scale work, from 15 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 88.7% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 477 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 Tendring (85.5%, more approving) and Basildon (84.3%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Broxbourne 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 Broxbourne
Live planning activity in Broxbourne Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 19 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Broxbourne Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Broxbourne Borough Council
Recent applications in Broxbourne Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Broxbourne page.
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Planning permission in Broxbourne: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Broxbourne?
On the latest official figures Broxbourne is close to the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 84.9% of the 477 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Broxbourne approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 84.9% approved and 15.1% refused — 405 granted and 72 refused of 477 decisions, with major schemes approved at 73.3% and householder and other work at 88.5%.
How quickly does Broxbourne decide planning applications?
On timing Broxbourne is about average on speed: 88.7% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Broxbourne stricter than nearby councils?
Broxbourne's 84.9% approval rate makes it the 28th most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring Tendring approves 85.5% and Basildon 84.3%.
Can I use Broxbourne's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Broxbourne 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 Broxbourne 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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