Planning Approval Rate in Fenland
Fenland is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 87% of applications and decides 93.7% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #184 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Fenland: 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 Fenland planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 599 decisions (521 granted, 78 refused).
How Fenland compares
| Fenland | 87% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Fenland is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Fenland?
Fenland is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 87% of the applications it decides (rank 184th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 87% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 21st most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 78 of its 599 decisions were refusals (13%). On the split by scale it is far tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 79.2% of major developments approved versus 94.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 53 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 93.7% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 599 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its East of England neighbours it sits between Chelmsford (87.1%, more approving) and East Cambridgeshire (86.9%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Fenland with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in East of England. See the full East of England league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Fenland
Live planning activity in Fenland District Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 9 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Fenland District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Fenland District Council
Recent applications in Fenland District Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Fenland planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Fenland: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Fenland?
On the latest official figures Fenland is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 87% of the 599 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Fenland approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 87% approved and 13% refused — 521 granted and 78 refused of 599 decisions, with major schemes approved at 79.2% and householder and other work at 94.4%.
How quickly does Fenland decide planning applications?
On timing Fenland is a little faster than average: 93.7% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Fenland stricter than nearby councils?
Fenland's 87% approval rate makes it the 21st most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring Chelmsford approves 87.1% and East Cambridgeshire 86.9%.
Can I use Fenland's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Fenland 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 Fenland District Council 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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