Planning Approval Rate in Hart
Hart is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 80.9% of applications and decides 92.8% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #269 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Hart, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Hart District Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 734 decisions (594 granted, 140 refused).
How Hart compares
| Hart | 80.9% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Hart is 6.1 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Hart?
Hart is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 80.9% of the applications it decides (rank 269th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 80.9% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 56th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 140 of its 734 decisions were refusals (19.1%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 89.5% of major developments approved versus 81.7% of householder and other small-scale work, from 19 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 92.8% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 734 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 Maidstone (82%, more approving) and Crawley (80.9%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Hart with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Hart
Live planning activity in Hart District Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 26 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Hart District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Hart District Council
Recent applications in Hart District Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Hart page.
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Planning permission in Hart: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Hart?
On the latest official figures Hart is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 80.9% of the 734 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Hart approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 80.9% approved and 19.1% refused — 594 granted and 140 refused of 734 decisions, with major schemes approved at 89.5% and householder and other work at 81.7%.
How quickly does Hart decide planning applications?
On timing Hart is a little faster than average: 92.8% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Hart stricter than nearby councils?
Hart's 80.9% approval rate makes it the 56th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Maidstone approves 82% and Crawley 80.9%.
Can I use Hart's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Hart 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 Hart 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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