Planning Approval Rate in Leicester
Leicester is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 82.3% of applications and decides 83.1% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #256 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Leicester: 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 Leicester planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,149 decisions (946 granted, 203 refused).
How Leicester compares
| Leicester | 82.3% |
| East Midlands average | 89.8% |
| England average | 87% |
Leicester is 4.7 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Leicester?
Leicester is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 82.3% of the applications it decides (rank 256th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 82.3% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East Midlands it is the 33rd most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.8%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 203 of its 1,149 decisions were refusals (17.7%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 97.5% of major developments approved versus 83.8% of householder and other small-scale work, from 40 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 83.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 1,149 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its East Midlands neighbours it sits between Ashfield (85.5%, more approving) and South Holland (81.6%, stricter). For context in East Midlands, North Kesteven approves the most (97.2%) and Oadby and Wigston the least (71.7%).
Compare Leicester with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in East Midlands. See the full East Midlands league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Leicester
Live planning activity in Leicester City Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 8 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Leicester City Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Leicester City Council
Recent applications in Leicester City Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Leicester planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Leicester: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Leicester?
On the latest official figures Leicester is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 82.3% of the 1,149 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Leicester approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 82.3% approved and 17.7% refused — 946 granted and 203 refused of 1,149 decisions, with major schemes approved at 97.5% and householder and other work at 83.8%.
How quickly does Leicester decide planning applications?
On timing Leicester is among the slower authorities: 83.1% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Leicester stricter than nearby councils?
Leicester's 82.3% approval rate makes it the 33rd most approving of 35 authorities in East Midlands, against a 89.8% regional average. Neighbouring Ashfield approves 85.5% and South Holland 81.6%.
Can I use Leicester's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Leicester 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 Leicester City 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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