Planning Approval Rate in Hounslow
Hounslow is markedly stricter than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 68.3% of applications and decides 95.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #308 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Hounslow: 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 Hounslow planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,284 decisions (877 granted, 407 refused).
How Hounslow compares
| Hounslow | 68.3% |
| London average | 82.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Hounslow is 18.7 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Hounslow?
Hounslow is among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, granting 68.3% of the applications it decides (rank 308th of 310). That puts it markedly stricter than the typical English council — 68.3% approved against an England average of 87%. Within London it is the 33rd most approving of 34 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 82.5%. Refusals are common here: 407 of its 1,284 decisions were refusals (31.7%). On the split by scale it is strikingly more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 93.1% of major developments approved versus 69.2% of householder and other small-scale work, from 29 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 95.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,284 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its London neighbours it sits between Havering (72.8%, more approving) and Barking and Dagenham (66.2%, stricter). For context in London, Hammersmith and Fulham approves the most (97.2%) and Barking and Dagenham the least (66.2%).
Compare Hounslow with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in London. See the full London league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Hounslow
Live planning activity in Hounslow Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 12 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Hounslow Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Hounslow Council
Recent applications in Hounslow Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Hounslow planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Hounslow: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Hounslow?
On the latest official figures Hounslow is markedly stricter than the typical English council and among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, approving 68.3% of the 1,284 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Hounslow approve or refuse?
Refusals are common here: 68.3% approved and 31.7% refused — 877 granted and 407 refused of 1,284 decisions, with major schemes approved at 93.1% and householder and other work at 69.2%.
How quickly does Hounslow decide planning applications?
On timing Hounslow is a little faster than average: 95.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Hounslow stricter than nearby councils?
Hounslow's 68.3% approval rate makes it the 33rd most approving of 34 authorities in London, against a 82.5% regional average. Neighbouring Havering approves 72.8% and Barking and Dagenham 66.2%.
Can I use Hounslow's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Hounslow 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 Hounslow 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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