Planning Approval Rate in Manchester
Manchester is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 87.2% of applications and decides 93% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #177 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Manchester: 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 Manchester planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,813 decisions (1,581 granted, 232 refused).
How Manchester compares
| Manchester | 87.2% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Manchester is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Manchester?
Manchester is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 87.2% of the applications it decides (rank 177th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 87.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 19th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 232 of its 1,813 decisions were refusals (12.8%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 97.8% of major developments approved versus 89.9% of householder and other small-scale work, from 89 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 93% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,813 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 Bury (87.6%, more approving) and Tameside (87%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Manchester with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Manchester
Live planning activity in Manchester
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 Manchester
Where planning activity concentrates in Manchester
Recent applications in Manchester
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Manchester planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Manchester: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Manchester?
On the latest official figures Manchester is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 87.2% of the 1,813 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Manchester approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 87.2% approved and 12.8% refused — 1,581 granted and 232 refused of 1,813 decisions, with major schemes approved at 97.8% and householder and other work at 89.9%.
How quickly does Manchester decide planning applications?
On timing Manchester is a little faster than average: 93% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Manchester stricter than nearby councils?
Manchester's 87.2% approval rate makes it the 19th most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Bury approves 87.6% and Tameside 87%.
Can I use Manchester's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Manchester 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 Manchester 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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