Planning Approval Rate in Middlesbrough Development Corporation
Middlesbrough Development Corporation is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 89% of applications and decides 84.1% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #152 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Middlesbrough Development Corporation: how hard it is to get planning permission, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours, from official government statistics.
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Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 82 decisions (73 granted, 9 refused).
How Middlesbrough Development Corporation compares
| Middlesbrough Development Corporation | 89% |
| North East average | 91.7% |
| England average | 87% |
Middlesbrough Development Corporation is 2 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Middlesbrough Development Corporation?
Middlesbrough Development Corporation is a little more approving than the median English authority, granting 89% of the applications it decides (rank 152nd of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 89% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North East it is the 12th most approving of 14 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 91.7%. Refusals are uncommon here: 9 of its 82 decisions were refusals (11%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 90% of householder and other small-scale work, from 10 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 84.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 82 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North East neighbours it sits between Hartlepool Development Corporation (90.2%, more approving) and Northumberland (88.7%, stricter). For context in North East, Redcar and Cleveland approves the most (96.7%) and Middlesbrough the least (77.2%).
Compare Middlesbrough Development Corporation 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 Development Corporation
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Planning permission in Middlesbrough Development Corporation: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Middlesbrough Development Corporation?
On the latest official figures Middlesbrough Development Corporation is close to the England average and a little more approving than the median English authority, approving 89% of the 82 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Middlesbrough Development Corporation approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 89% approved and 11% refused — 73 granted and 9 refused of 82 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 90%.
How quickly does Middlesbrough Development Corporation decide planning applications?
On timing Middlesbrough Development Corporation is among the slower authorities: 84.1% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Middlesbrough Development Corporation stricter than nearby councils?
Middlesbrough Development Corporation's 89% approval rate makes it the 12th most approving of 14 authorities in North East, against a 91.7% regional average. Neighbouring Hartlepool Development Corporation approves 90.2% and Northumberland 88.7%.
Can I use Middlesbrough Development Corporation's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Middlesbrough Development Corporation 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 Development Corporation 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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