Planning Approval Rate in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 83.5% of applications and decides 82.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #245 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Buckinghamshire, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Buckinghamshire Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 4,436 decisions (3,702 granted, 734 refused).
How Buckinghamshire compares
| Buckinghamshire | 83.5% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Buckinghamshire is 3.5 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Buckinghamshire?
Buckinghamshire is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 83.5% of the applications it decides (rank 245th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 83.5% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 52nd most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 734 of its 4,436 decisions were refusals (16.5%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 83.4% of major developments approved versus 85% of householder and other small-scale work, from 151 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 82.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 4,436 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South East neighbours it sits between Reading (84.1%, more approving) and Folkestone and Hythe (82.7%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Buckinghamshire with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Buckinghamshire
Live planning activity in Buckinghamshire Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 25 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Buckinghamshire Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Buckinghamshire Council
Recent applications in Buckinghamshire Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Buckinghamshire page.
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Planning permission in Buckinghamshire: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Buckinghamshire?
On the latest official figures Buckinghamshire is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 83.5% of the 4,436 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Buckinghamshire approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 83.5% approved and 16.5% refused — 3,702 granted and 734 refused of 4,436 decisions, with major schemes approved at 83.4% and householder and other work at 85%.
How quickly does Buckinghamshire decide planning applications?
On timing Buckinghamshire is among the slower authorities: 82.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Buckinghamshire stricter than nearby councils?
Buckinghamshire's 83.5% approval rate makes it the 52nd most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Reading approves 84.1% and Folkestone and Hythe 82.7%.
Can I use Buckinghamshire's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Buckinghamshire 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 Buckinghamshire 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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