Planning Approval Rate in Cornwall
Cornwall is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 92.6% of applications and decides 94.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #72 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Cornwall, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Cornwall.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 4,956 decisions (4,589 granted, 367 refused).
How Cornwall compares
| Cornwall | 92.6% |
| South West average | 89.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Cornwall is 5.6 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Cornwall?
Cornwall is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 92.6% of the applications it decides (rank 72nd of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 92.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South West it is the 7th most approving of 27 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.5%. Refusals are uncommon here: 367 of its 4,956 decisions were refusals (7.4%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 87.9% of major developments approved versus 97% of householder and other small-scale work, from 149 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 94.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 4,956 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South West neighbours it sits between Plymouth (92.8%, more approving) and Forest of Dean (92.3%, stricter). For context in South West, Cheltenham approves the most (96.5%) and Gloucester the least (80.5%).
Compare Cornwall with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South West. See the full South West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Cornwall
Live planning activity in Cornwall
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 Cornwall
Where planning activity concentrates in Cornwall
Recent applications in Cornwall
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Cornwall page.
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Planning permission in Cornwall: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Cornwall?
On the latest official figures Cornwall is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 92.6% of the 4,956 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Cornwall approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 92.6% approved and 7.4% refused — 4,589 granted and 367 refused of 4,956 decisions, with major schemes approved at 87.9% and householder and other work at 97%.
How quickly does Cornwall decide planning applications?
On timing Cornwall is a little faster than average: 94.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Cornwall stricter than nearby councils?
Cornwall's 92.6% approval rate makes it the 7th most approving of 27 authorities in South West, against a 89.5% regional average. Neighbouring Plymouth approves 92.8% and Forest of Dean 92.3%.
Can I use Cornwall's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Cornwall 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 Cornwall 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.
Download the data (JSON) · CSV · National league table · South West league table
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