Planning Approval Rate in Doncaster
Doncaster is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 86.1% of applications and decides 89.4% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #205 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Doncaster, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Doncaster.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 913 decisions (786 granted, 127 refused).
How Doncaster compares
| Doncaster | 86.1% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber average | 87.4% |
| England average | 87% |
Doncaster is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Doncaster?
Doncaster is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 86.1% of the applications it decides (rank 205th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 86.1% approved against an England average of 87%. Within Yorkshire and the Humber it is the 9th most approving of 15 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.4%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 127 of its 913 decisions were refusals (13.9%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 88.1% of major developments approved versus 92% of householder and other small-scale work, from 59 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 89.4% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 913 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its Yorkshire and the Humber neighbours it sits between Sheffield (87.2%, more approving) and North Lincolnshire (86%, stricter). For context in Yorkshire and the Humber, North East Lincolnshire approves the most (95.3%) and Rotherham the least (79.9%).
Compare Doncaster with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber. See the full Yorkshire and the Humber league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Doncaster
Live planning activity in Doncaster
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 Doncaster
Where planning activity concentrates in Doncaster
Recent applications in Doncaster
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Doncaster page.
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Planning permission in Doncaster: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Doncaster?
On the latest official figures Doncaster is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 86.1% of the 913 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Doncaster approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 86.1% approved and 13.9% refused — 786 granted and 127 refused of 913 decisions, with major schemes approved at 88.1% and householder and other work at 92%.
How quickly does Doncaster decide planning applications?
On timing Doncaster is about average on speed: 89.4% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Doncaster stricter than nearby councils?
Doncaster's 86.1% approval rate makes it the 9th most approving of 15 authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber, against a 87.4% regional average. Neighbouring Sheffield approves 87.2% and North Lincolnshire 86%.
Can I use Doncaster's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Doncaster 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 Doncaster 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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