Planning Approval Rate in Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is markedly stricter than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 77.2% of applications and decides 91.1% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #291 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Middlesbrough, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Middlesbrough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 316 decisions (244 granted, 72 refused).
How Middlesbrough compares
| Middlesbrough | 77.2% |
| North East average | 91.7% |
| England average | 87% |
Middlesbrough is 9.8 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Middlesbrough?
Middlesbrough is among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, granting 77.2% of the applications it decides (rank 291st of 310). That puts it markedly stricter than the typical English council — 77.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North East it is the strictest of 14 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 91.7%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 72 of its 316 decisions were refusals (22.8%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 81.8% of major developments approved versus 77.3% of householder and other small-scale work, from 11 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 91.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 316 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. It is stricter than its nearest North East peer by rank, Northumberland (88.7%). At the other end of North East, Redcar and Cleveland is the most approving, at 96.7%.
Compare Middlesbrough with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North East. See the full North East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Middlesbrough
Live planning activity in Middlesbrough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 18 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Middlesbrough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Middlesbrough Council
Recent applications in Middlesbrough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Middlesbrough page.
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Planning permission in Middlesbrough: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Middlesbrough?
On the latest official figures Middlesbrough is markedly stricter than the typical English council and among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, approving 77.2% of the 316 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Middlesbrough approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 77.2% approved and 22.8% refused — 244 granted and 72 refused of 316 decisions, with major schemes approved at 81.8% and householder and other work at 77.3%.
How quickly does Middlesbrough decide planning applications?
On timing Middlesbrough is about average on speed: 91.1% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Middlesbrough stricter than nearby councils?
Middlesbrough's 77.2% approval rate makes it the strictest of 14 authorities in North East, against a 91.7% regional average. Neighbouring Northumberland approves 88.7%.
Can I use Middlesbrough's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Middlesbrough 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 Middlesbrough 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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