Planning Approval Rate in Forest of Dean
Forest of Dean is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 92.3% of applications and decides 92.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #83 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Forest of Dean: 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 Forest of Dean planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 596 decisions (550 granted, 46 refused).
How Forest of Dean compares
| Forest of Dean | 92.3% |
| South West average | 89.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Forest of Dean is 5.3 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Forest of Dean?
Forest of Dean is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 92.3% of the applications it decides (rank 83rd of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 92.3% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South West it is the 8th most approving of 27 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.5%. Refusals are uncommon here: 46 of its 596 decisions were refusals (7.7%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 85.7% of major developments approved versus 97.9% of householder and other small-scale work, from 21 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 92.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 596 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South West neighbours it sits between Cornwall (92.6%, more approving) and Isles of Scilly (91.4%, stricter). For context in South West, Cheltenham approves the most (96.5%) and Gloucester the least (80.5%).
Compare Forest of Dean with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South West. See the full South West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Forest of Dean
Live planning activity in Forest of Dean 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 Forest of Dean District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Forest of Dean District Council
Recent applications in Forest of Dean District Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Forest of Dean planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Forest of Dean: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Forest of Dean?
On the latest official figures Forest of Dean is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 92.3% of the 596 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Forest of Dean approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 92.3% approved and 7.7% refused — 550 granted and 46 refused of 596 decisions, with major schemes approved at 85.7% and householder and other work at 97.9%.
How quickly does Forest of Dean decide planning applications?
On timing Forest of Dean is a little faster than average: 92.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Forest of Dean stricter than nearby councils?
Forest of Dean's 92.3% approval rate makes it the 8th most approving of 27 authorities in South West, against a 89.5% regional average. Neighbouring Cornwall approves 92.6% and Isles of Scilly 91.4%.
Can I use Forest of Dean's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Forest of Dean 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 Forest of Dean 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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