Planning Approval Rate in Epsom and Ewell
Epsom and Ewell is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 85.4% of applications and decides 94.3% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #221 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Epsom and Ewell, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Epsom and Ewell.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 631 decisions (539 granted, 92 refused).
How Epsom and Ewell compares
| Epsom and Ewell | 85.4% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Epsom and Ewell is 1.6 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Epsom and Ewell?
Epsom and Ewell is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 85.4% of the applications it decides (rank 221st of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 85.4% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 46th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 92 of its 631 decisions were refusals (14.6%). On the split by scale it is far tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 71.4% of major developments approved versus 87.7% of householder and other small-scale work, from 14 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 94.3% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 631 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 Arun (85.6%, more approving) and Tandridge (84.6%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Epsom and Ewell with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Epsom and Ewell
Live planning activity in Epsom and Ewell
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 7 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Epsom and Ewell
Where planning activity concentrates in Epsom and Ewell
Recent applications in Epsom and Ewell
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Epsom and Ewell page.
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Planning permission in Epsom and Ewell: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Epsom and Ewell?
On the latest official figures Epsom and Ewell is close to the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 85.4% of the 631 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Epsom and Ewell approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 85.4% approved and 14.6% refused — 539 granted and 92 refused of 631 decisions, with major schemes approved at 71.4% and householder and other work at 87.7%.
How quickly does Epsom and Ewell decide planning applications?
On timing Epsom and Ewell is a little faster than average: 94.3% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Epsom and Ewell stricter than nearby councils?
Epsom and Ewell's 85.4% approval rate makes it the 46th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Arun approves 85.6% and Tandridge 84.6%.
Can I use Epsom and Ewell's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Epsom and Ewell 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 Epsom and Ewell 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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