Planning Approval Rate in Coventry
Coventry is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 85.6% of applications and decides 99.2% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #215 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Coventry: 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 Coventry planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,226 decisions (1,050 granted, 176 refused).
How Coventry compares
| Coventry | 85.6% |
| West Midlands average | 87.8% |
| England average | 87% |
Coventry is 1.4 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Coventry?
Coventry is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 85.6% of the applications it decides (rank 215th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 85.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within West Midlands it is the 24th most approving of 30 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.8%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 176 of its 1,226 decisions were refusals (14.4%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 89.4% of major developments approved versus 87.2% of householder and other small-scale work, from 47 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 99.2% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,226 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its West Midlands neighbours it sits between Stoke-on-Trent (85.7%, more approving) and Worcester (85.5%, stricter). For context in West Midlands, Redditch approves the most (96.2%) and Lichfield the least (79.7%).
Compare Coventry with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in West Midlands. See the full West Midlands league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Coventry
Live planning activity in Coventry City 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 Coventry City Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Coventry City Council
Recent applications in Coventry City Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Coventry planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Coventry: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Coventry?
On the latest official figures Coventry is close to the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 85.6% of the 1,226 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Coventry approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 85.6% approved and 14.4% refused — 1,050 granted and 176 refused of 1,226 decisions, with major schemes approved at 89.4% and householder and other work at 87.2%.
How quickly does Coventry decide planning applications?
On timing Coventry is among the faster authorities: 99.2% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Coventry stricter than nearby councils?
Coventry's 85.6% approval rate makes it the 24th most approving of 30 authorities in West Midlands, against a 87.8% regional average. Neighbouring Stoke-on-Trent approves 85.7% and Worcester 85.5%.
Can I use Coventry's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Coventry 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 Coventry 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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