Planning Approval Rate in Darlington
Darlington is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 90.2% of applications and decides 92.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #123 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Darlington, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Darlington.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 451 decisions (407 granted, 44 refused).
How Darlington compares
| Darlington | 90.2% |
| North East average | 91.7% |
| England average | 87% |
Darlington is 3.2 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Darlington?
Darlington is a little more approving than the median English authority, granting 90.2% of the applications it decides (rank 123rd of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 90.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North East it is the 10th most approving of 14 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 91.7%. Refusals are uncommon here: 44 of its 451 decisions were refusals (9.8%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 92.2% of householder and other small-scale work, from 14 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 92.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 451 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North East neighbours it sits between Gateshead (90.4%, more approving) and Hartlepool Development Corporation (90.2%, stricter). For context in North East, Redcar and Cleveland approves the most (96.7%) and Middlesbrough the least (77.2%).
Compare Darlington with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North East. See the full North East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Darlington
Live planning activity in Darlington
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 21 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Darlington
Where planning activity concentrates in Darlington
Recent applications in Darlington
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Darlington page.
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Planning permission in Darlington: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Darlington?
On the latest official figures Darlington is somewhat more approving than the England average and a little more approving than the median English authority, approving 90.2% of the 451 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Darlington approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 90.2% approved and 9.8% refused — 407 granted and 44 refused of 451 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 92.2%.
How quickly does Darlington decide planning applications?
On timing Darlington is about average on speed: 92.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Darlington stricter than nearby councils?
Darlington's 90.2% approval rate makes it the 10th most approving of 14 authorities in North East, against a 91.7% regional average. Neighbouring Gateshead approves 90.4% and Hartlepool Development Corporation 90.2%.
Can I use Darlington's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Darlington 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 Darlington 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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