Planning Approval Rate in Cheltenham
Cheltenham is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 96.5% of applications and decides 93.3% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #6 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Cheltenham, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Cheltenham Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,021 decisions (985 granted, 36 refused).
How Cheltenham compares
| Cheltenham | 96.5% |
| South West average | 89.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Cheltenham is 9.5 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Cheltenham?
Cheltenham is among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, granting 96.5% of the applications it decides (rank 6th of 310). That puts it markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council — 96.5% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South West it is the most approving of 27 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.5%. Refusals are rare here: 36 of its 1,021 decisions were refusals (3.5%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 90.9% of major developments approved versus 97.2% of householder and other small-scale work, from 11 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 93.3% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 1,021 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. It is more approving than its nearest South West peer by rank, Bath and North East Somerset (94.8%). At the other end of South West, Gloucester is the strictest authority, approving 80.5%.
Compare Cheltenham with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South West. See the full South West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Cheltenham
Live planning activity in Cheltenham Borough 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 Cheltenham Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Cheltenham Borough Council
Recent applications in Cheltenham Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Cheltenham page.
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Planning permission in Cheltenham: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Cheltenham?
On the latest official figures Cheltenham is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council and among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, approving 96.5% of the 1,021 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Cheltenham approve or refuse?
Refusals are rare here: 96.5% approved and 3.5% refused — 985 granted and 36 refused of 1,021 decisions, with major schemes approved at 90.9% and householder and other work at 97.2%.
How quickly does Cheltenham decide planning applications?
On timing Cheltenham is a little faster than average: 93.3% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Cheltenham stricter than nearby councils?
Cheltenham's 96.5% approval rate makes it the most approving of 27 authorities in South West, against a 89.5% regional average. Neighbouring Bath and North East Somerset approves 94.8%.
Can I use Cheltenham's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Cheltenham 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 Cheltenham 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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