Planning Approval Rate in Cheshire East
Cheshire East is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 86.9% of applications and decides 85.8% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #187 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Cheshire East: 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 Cheshire East planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 2,460 decisions (2,137 granted, 323 refused).
How Cheshire East compares
| Cheshire East | 86.9% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Cheshire East is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Cheshire East?
Cheshire East is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 86.9% of the applications it decides (rank 187th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 86.9% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 21st most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 323 of its 2,460 decisions were refusals (13.1%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 88% of major developments approved versus 89.7% of householder and other small-scale work, from 50 major decisions.
On timing it is a little slower than average, deciding 85.8% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 2,460 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North West neighbours it sits between Tameside (87%, more approving) and Wirral (86.9%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Cheshire East with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Cheshire East
Live planning activity in Cheshire East Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 12 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Cheshire East Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Cheshire East Council
Recent applications in Cheshire East Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Cheshire East planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Cheshire East: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Cheshire East?
On the latest official figures Cheshire East is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 86.9% of the 2,460 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Cheshire East approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 86.9% approved and 13.1% refused — 2,137 granted and 323 refused of 2,460 decisions, with major schemes approved at 88% and householder and other work at 89.7%.
How quickly does Cheshire East decide planning applications?
On timing Cheshire East is a little slower than average: 85.8% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Cheshire East stricter than nearby councils?
Cheshire East's 86.9% approval rate makes it the 21st most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Tameside approves 87% and Wirral 86.9%.
Can I use Cheshire East's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Cheshire East 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 Cheshire East 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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