Planning Approval Rate in Crawley
Crawley is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 80.9% of applications and decides 96.4% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #270 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Crawley, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Crawley Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 220 decisions (178 granted, 42 refused).
How Crawley compares
| Crawley | 80.9% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Crawley is 6.1 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Crawley?
Crawley is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 80.9% of the applications it decides (rank 270th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 80.9% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 57th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 42 of its 220 decisions were refusals (19.1%). On the split by scale it is strikingly more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 79.6% of householder and other small-scale work, from 5 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 96.4% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 220 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South East neighbours it sits between Hart (80.9%, more approving) and Spelthorne (80.5%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Crawley with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Crawley
Live planning activity in Crawley Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 25 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Crawley Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Crawley Borough Council
Recent applications in Crawley Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Crawley page.
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Planning permission in Crawley: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Crawley?
On the latest official figures Crawley is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 80.9% of the 220 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Crawley approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 80.9% approved and 19.1% refused — 178 granted and 42 refused of 220 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 79.6%.
How quickly does Crawley decide planning applications?
On timing Crawley is a little faster than average: 96.4% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Crawley stricter than nearby councils?
Crawley's 80.9% approval rate makes it the 57th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Hart approves 80.9% and Spelthorne 80.5%.
Can I use Crawley's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Crawley 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 Crawley 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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