Planning Approval Rate in Charnwood
Charnwood is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 86.6% of applications and decides 89.7% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #197 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Charnwood: how hard it is to get planning permission, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours, from official government statistics.
Looking for a particular application rather than the statistics? Search Charnwood planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 837 decisions (725 granted, 112 refused).
How Charnwood compares
| Charnwood | 86.6% |
| East Midlands average | 89.8% |
| England average | 87% |
Charnwood is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Charnwood?
Charnwood is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 86.6% of the applications it decides (rank 197th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 86.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East Midlands it is the 28th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.8%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 112 of its 837 decisions were refusals (13.4%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 93.3% of major developments approved versus 87.7% of householder and other small-scale work, from 30 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 89.7% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 837 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its East Midlands neighbours it sits between Rutland (87%, more approving) and Bassetlaw (86.3%, stricter). For context in East Midlands, North Kesteven approves the most (97.2%) and Oadby and Wigston the least (71.7%).
Compare Charnwood with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in East Midlands. See the full East Midlands league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Charnwood
Live planning activity in Charnwood Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 1 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Charnwood Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Charnwood Borough Council
Recent applications in Charnwood Borough Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Charnwood planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Charnwood: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Charnwood?
On the latest official figures Charnwood is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 86.6% of the 837 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Charnwood approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 86.6% approved and 13.4% refused — 725 granted and 112 refused of 837 decisions, with major schemes approved at 93.3% and householder and other work at 87.7%.
How quickly does Charnwood decide planning applications?
On timing Charnwood is about average on speed: 89.7% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Charnwood stricter than nearby councils?
Charnwood's 86.6% approval rate makes it the 28th most approving of 35 authorities in East Midlands, against a 89.8% regional average. Neighbouring Rutland approves 87% and Bassetlaw 86.3%.
Can I use Charnwood's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Charnwood 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 Charnwood 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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