Planning Approval Rate in Liverpool
Liverpool is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 83.9% of applications and decides 91.2% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #239 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Liverpool, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Liverpool.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,323 decisions (1,110 granted, 213 refused).
How Liverpool compares
| Liverpool | 83.9% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Liverpool is 3.1 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Liverpool?
Liverpool is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 83.9% of the applications it decides (rank 239th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 83.9% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 28th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 213 of its 1,323 decisions were refusals (16.1%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 86.7% of major developments approved versus 84.1% of householder and other small-scale work, from 45 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 91.2% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,323 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North West neighbours it sits between Rochdale (84.8%, more approving) and Lancaster (83.7%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Liverpool with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Liverpool
Live planning activity in Liverpool
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 7 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Liverpool
Where planning activity concentrates in Liverpool
Recent applications in Liverpool
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Liverpool page.
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Planning permission in Liverpool: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Liverpool?
On the latest official figures Liverpool is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 83.9% of the 1,323 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Liverpool approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 83.9% approved and 16.1% refused — 1,110 granted and 213 refused of 1,323 decisions, with major schemes approved at 86.7% and householder and other work at 84.1%.
How quickly does Liverpool decide planning applications?
On timing Liverpool is about average on speed: 91.2% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Liverpool stricter than nearby councils?
Liverpool's 83.9% approval rate makes it the 28th most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Rochdale approves 84.8% and Lancaster 83.7%.
Can I use Liverpool's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Liverpool 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 Liverpool 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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