Planning Approval Rate in Hillingdon
Hillingdon is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 83.8% of applications and decides 93.1% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #240 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Hillingdon, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Hillingdon Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,703 decisions (1,427 granted, 276 refused).
How Hillingdon compares
| Hillingdon | 83.8% |
| London average | 82.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Hillingdon is 3.2 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Hillingdon?
Hillingdon is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 83.8% of the applications it decides (rank 240th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 83.8% approved against an England average of 87%. Within London it is the 16th most approving of 34 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 82.5%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 276 of its 1,703 decisions were refusals (16.2%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 92.9% of major developments approved versus 87.6% of householder and other small-scale work, from 14 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 93.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,703 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its London neighbours it sits between Lewisham (84.6%, more approving) and Hackney (81.5%, stricter). For context in London, Hammersmith and Fulham approves the most (97.2%) and Barking and Dagenham the least (66.2%).
Compare Hillingdon with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in London. See the full London league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Hillingdon
Live planning activity in Hillingdon 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 Hillingdon Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Hillingdon Council
Recent applications in Hillingdon Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Hillingdon page.
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Planning permission in Hillingdon: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Hillingdon?
On the latest official figures Hillingdon is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 83.8% of the 1,703 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Hillingdon approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 83.8% approved and 16.2% refused — 1,427 granted and 276 refused of 1,703 decisions, with major schemes approved at 92.9% and householder and other work at 87.6%.
How quickly does Hillingdon decide planning applications?
On timing Hillingdon is a little faster than average: 93.1% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Hillingdon stricter than nearby councils?
Hillingdon's 83.8% approval rate makes it the 16th most approving of 34 authorities in London, against a 82.5% regional average. Neighbouring Lewisham approves 84.6% and Hackney 81.5%.
Can I use Hillingdon's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Hillingdon 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 Hillingdon 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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