Planning Approval Rate in Croydon
Croydon is markedly stricter than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 75.2% of applications and decides 91.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #299 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Croydon, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Croydon.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,582 decisions (1,190 granted, 392 refused).
How Croydon compares
| Croydon | 75.2% |
| London average | 82.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Croydon is 11.8 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Croydon?
Croydon is among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, granting 75.2% of the applications it decides (rank 299th of 310). That puts it markedly stricter than the typical English council — 75.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within London it is the 28th most approving of 34 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 82.5%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 392 of its 1,582 decisions were refusals (24.8%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 73.9% of major developments approved versus 84.9% of householder and other small-scale work, from 23 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 91.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,582 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its London neighbours it sits between Bromley (75.4%, more approving) and Kingston upon Thames (75.1%, stricter). For context in London, Hammersmith and Fulham approves the most (97.2%) and Barking and Dagenham the least (66.2%).
Compare Croydon with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in London. See the full London league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Croydon
Live planning activity in Croydon
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 24 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Croydon
Where planning activity concentrates in Croydon
Recent applications in Croydon
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Croydon page.
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Planning permission in Croydon: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Croydon?
On the latest official figures Croydon is markedly stricter than the typical English council and among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, approving 75.2% of the 1,582 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Croydon approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 75.2% approved and 24.8% refused — 1,190 granted and 392 refused of 1,582 decisions, with major schemes approved at 73.9% and householder and other work at 84.9%.
How quickly does Croydon decide planning applications?
On timing Croydon is about average on speed: 91.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Croydon stricter than nearby councils?
Croydon's 75.2% approval rate makes it the 28th most approving of 34 authorities in London, against a 82.5% regional average. Neighbouring Bromley approves 75.4% and Kingston upon Thames 75.1%.
Can I use Croydon's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Croydon 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 Croydon 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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