Planning Approval Rate in Greenwich
Greenwich is markedly stricter than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 77.6% of applications and decides 90.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #287 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Greenwich, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Greenwich.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,487 decisions (1,154 granted, 333 refused).
How Greenwich compares
| Greenwich | 77.6% |
| London average | 82.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Greenwich is 9.4 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Greenwich?
Greenwich is among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, granting 77.6% of the applications it decides (rank 287th of 310). That puts it markedly stricter than the typical English council — 77.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within London it is the 25th most approving of 34 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 82.5%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 333 of its 1,487 decisions were refusals (22.4%). On the split by scale it is strikingly more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 92.6% of major developments approved versus 76% of householder and other small-scale work, from 27 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 90.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,487 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its London neighbours it sits between Harrow (78.2%, more approving) and Barnet (76.4%, stricter). For context in London, Hammersmith and Fulham approves the most (97.2%) and Barking and Dagenham the least (66.2%).
Compare Greenwich with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in London. See the full London league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Greenwich
Live planning activity in Greenwich
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 25 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Greenwich
Where planning activity concentrates in Greenwich
Recent applications in Greenwich
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Greenwich page.
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Planning permission in Greenwich: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Greenwich?
On the latest official figures Greenwich is markedly stricter than the typical English council and among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, approving 77.6% of the 1,487 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Greenwich approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 77.6% approved and 22.4% refused — 1,154 granted and 333 refused of 1,487 decisions, with major schemes approved at 92.6% and householder and other work at 76%.
How quickly does Greenwich decide planning applications?
On timing Greenwich is about average on speed: 90.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Greenwich stricter than nearby councils?
Greenwich's 77.6% approval rate makes it the 25th most approving of 34 authorities in London, against a 82.5% regional average. Neighbouring Harrow approves 78.2% and Barnet 76.4%.
Can I use Greenwich's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Greenwich 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 Greenwich 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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