Planning Approval Rate in Gateshead
Gateshead is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 90.4% of applications and decides 88.9% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #121 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Gateshead, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Gateshead.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 468 decisions (423 granted, 45 refused).
How Gateshead compares
| Gateshead | 90.4% |
| North East average | 91.7% |
| England average | 87% |
Gateshead is 3.4 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Gateshead?
Gateshead is a little more approving than the median English authority, granting 90.4% of the applications it decides (rank 121st of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 90.4% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North East it is the 9th most approving of 14 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 91.7%. Refusals are uncommon here: 45 of its 468 decisions were refusals (9.6%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 90.9% of major developments approved versus 92.6% of householder and other small-scale work, from 11 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 88.9% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 468 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North East neighbours it sits between Sunderland (91%, more approving) and Darlington (90.2%, stricter). For context in North East, Redcar and Cleveland approves the most (96.7%) and Middlesbrough the least (77.2%).
Compare Gateshead with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North East. See the full North East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Gateshead
Live planning activity in Gateshead
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 7 July 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Gateshead
Where planning activity concentrates in Gateshead
Recent applications in Gateshead
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Gateshead page.
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Planning permission in Gateshead: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Gateshead?
On the latest official figures Gateshead is somewhat more approving than the England average and a little more approving than the median English authority, approving 90.4% of the 468 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Gateshead approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 90.4% approved and 9.6% refused — 423 granted and 45 refused of 468 decisions, with major schemes approved at 90.9% and householder and other work at 92.6%.
How quickly does Gateshead decide planning applications?
On timing Gateshead is about average on speed: 88.9% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Gateshead stricter than nearby councils?
Gateshead's 90.4% approval rate makes it the 9th most approving of 14 authorities in North East, against a 91.7% regional average. Neighbouring Sunderland approves 91% and Darlington 90.2%.
Can I use Gateshead's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Gateshead 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 Gateshead 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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