Planning Approval Rate in Enfield
Enfield is markedly stricter than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 78.8% of applications and decides 84.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #285 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Enfield: 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 Enfield planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,989 decisions (1,568 granted, 421 refused).
How Enfield compares
| Enfield | 78.8% |
| London average | 82.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Enfield is 8.2 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Enfield?
Enfield is among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, granting 78.8% of the applications it decides (rank 285th of 310). That puts it markedly stricter than the typical English council — 78.8% approved against an England average of 87%. Within London it is the 23rd most approving of 34 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 82.5%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 421 of its 1,989 decisions were refusals (21.2%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 82.6% of major developments approved versus 82.3% of householder and other small-scale work, from 23 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 84.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,989 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its London neighbours it sits between Brent (79.1%, more approving) and Harrow (78.2%, stricter). For context in London, Hammersmith and Fulham approves the most (97.2%) and Barking and Dagenham the least (66.2%).
Compare Enfield with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in London. See the full London league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Enfield
Live planning activity in Enfield
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 Enfield
Where planning activity concentrates in Enfield
Recent applications in Enfield
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Enfield planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Enfield: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Enfield?
On the latest official figures Enfield is markedly stricter than the typical English council and among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, approving 78.8% of the 1,989 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Enfield approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 78.8% approved and 21.2% refused — 1,568 granted and 421 refused of 1,989 decisions, with major schemes approved at 82.6% and householder and other work at 82.3%.
How quickly does Enfield decide planning applications?
On timing Enfield is among the slower authorities: 84.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Enfield stricter than nearby councils?
Enfield's 78.8% approval rate makes it the 23rd most approving of 34 authorities in London, against a 82.5% regional average. Neighbouring Brent approves 79.1% and Harrow 78.2%.
Can I use Enfield's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Enfield 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 Enfield 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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