Planning Approval Rate in Canterbury
Canterbury is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 93.4% of applications and decides 80.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #55 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Canterbury, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Canterbury City Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 978 decisions (913 granted, 65 refused).
How Canterbury compares
| Canterbury | 93.4% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Canterbury is 6.4 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Canterbury?
Canterbury is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 93.4% of the applications it decides (rank 55th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 93.4% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 12th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are uncommon here: 65 of its 978 decisions were refusals (6.6%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 93.1% of major developments approved versus 94.6% of householder and other small-scale work, from 29 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 80.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 978 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 Tunbridge Wells (93.6%, more approving) and Cherwell (93.3%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Canterbury with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Canterbury
Live planning activity in Canterbury City Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 4 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Canterbury City Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Canterbury City Council
Recent applications in Canterbury City Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Canterbury page.
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Planning permission in Canterbury: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Canterbury?
On the latest official figures Canterbury is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 93.4% of the 978 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Canterbury approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 93.4% approved and 6.6% refused — 913 granted and 65 refused of 978 decisions, with major schemes approved at 93.1% and householder and other work at 94.6%.
How quickly does Canterbury decide planning applications?
On timing Canterbury is among the slower authorities: 80.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Canterbury stricter than nearby councils?
Canterbury's 93.4% approval rate makes it the 12th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Tunbridge Wells approves 93.6% and Cherwell 93.3%.
Can I use Canterbury's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Canterbury 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 Canterbury City 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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