Planning Approval Rate in Folkestone and Hythe
Folkestone and Hythe is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 82.7% of applications and decides 98.3% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #252 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Folkestone and Hythe, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Folkestone and Hythe District Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 756 decisions (625 granted, 131 refused).
How Folkestone and Hythe compares
| Folkestone and Hythe | 82.7% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Folkestone and Hythe is 4.3 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Folkestone and Hythe?
Folkestone and Hythe is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 82.7% of the applications it decides (rank 252nd of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 82.7% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 53rd most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 131 of its 756 decisions were refusals (17.3%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 92.3% of major developments approved versus 87.3% of householder and other small-scale work, from 26 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 98.3% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 756 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 Buckinghamshire (83.5%, more approving) and Runnymede (82.6%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Folkestone and Hythe with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Folkestone and Hythe
Live planning activity in Folkestone and Hythe District Council
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 Folkestone and Hythe District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Folkestone and Hythe District Council
Recent applications in Folkestone and Hythe District Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Folkestone and Hythe page.
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Planning permission in Folkestone and Hythe: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Folkestone and Hythe?
On the latest official figures Folkestone and Hythe is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 82.7% of the 756 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Folkestone and Hythe approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 82.7% approved and 17.3% refused — 625 granted and 131 refused of 756 decisions, with major schemes approved at 92.3% and householder and other work at 87.3%.
How quickly does Folkestone and Hythe decide planning applications?
On timing Folkestone and Hythe is among the faster authorities: 98.3% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Folkestone and Hythe stricter than nearby councils?
Folkestone and Hythe's 82.7% approval rate makes it the 53rd most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Buckinghamshire approves 83.5% and Runnymede 82.6%.
Can I use Folkestone and Hythe's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Folkestone and Hythe 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 Folkestone and Hythe 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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