Planning Approval Rate in Lichfield
Lichfield is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 79.7% of applications and decides 96.1% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #279 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Lichfield, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Lichfield District Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 718 decisions (572 granted, 146 refused).
How Lichfield compares
| Lichfield | 79.7% |
| West Midlands average | 87.8% |
| England average | 87% |
Lichfield is 7.3 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Lichfield?
Lichfield is among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, granting 79.7% of the applications it decides (rank 279th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 79.7% approved against an England average of 87%. Within West Midlands it is the strictest of 30 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.8%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 146 of its 718 decisions were refusals (20.3%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 78.3% of major developments approved versus 82.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 23 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 96.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 718 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. It is stricter than its nearest West Midlands peer by rank, Staffordshire Moorlands (80%). At the other end of West Midlands, Redditch is the most approving, at 96.2%.
Compare Lichfield with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in West Midlands. See the full West Midlands league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Lichfield
Live planning activity in Lichfield District Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 24 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Lichfield District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Lichfield District Council
Recent applications in Lichfield District Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Lichfield page.
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Planning permission in Lichfield: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Lichfield?
On the latest official figures Lichfield is somewhat stricter than the England average and among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, approving 79.7% of the 718 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Lichfield approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 79.7% approved and 20.3% refused — 572 granted and 146 refused of 718 decisions, with major schemes approved at 78.3% and householder and other work at 82.4%.
How quickly does Lichfield decide planning applications?
On timing Lichfield is a little faster than average: 96.1% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Lichfield stricter than nearby councils?
Lichfield's 79.7% approval rate makes it the strictest of 30 authorities in West Midlands, against a 87.8% regional average. Neighbouring Staffordshire Moorlands approves 80%.
Can I use Lichfield's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Lichfield 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 Lichfield 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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