Planning Approval Rate in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 86.6% of applications and decides 92.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #196 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Milton Keynes, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Milton Keynes.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,290 decisions (1,117 granted, 173 refused).
How Milton Keynes compares
| Milton Keynes | 86.6% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Milton Keynes is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Milton Keynes?
Milton Keynes is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 86.6% of the applications it decides (rank 196th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 86.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 43rd most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 173 of its 1,290 decisions were refusals (13.4%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 85.2% of major developments approved versus 90.7% of householder and other small-scale work, from 61 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 92.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,290 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South East neighbours it sits between Oxford (86.7%, more approving) and Bracknell Forest (86.3%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Milton Keynes with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Milton Keynes
Live planning activity in Milton Keynes
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 Milton Keynes
Where planning activity concentrates in Milton Keynes
Recent applications in Milton Keynes
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Milton Keynes page.
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Planning permission in Milton Keynes: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Milton Keynes?
On the latest official figures Milton Keynes is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 86.6% of the 1,290 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Milton Keynes approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 86.6% approved and 13.4% refused — 1,117 granted and 173 refused of 1,290 decisions, with major schemes approved at 85.2% and householder and other work at 90.7%.
How quickly does Milton Keynes decide planning applications?
On timing Milton Keynes is about average on speed: 92.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Milton Keynes stricter than nearby councils?
Milton Keynes's 86.6% approval rate makes it the 43rd most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Oxford approves 86.7% and Bracknell Forest 86.3%.
Can I use Milton Keynes's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Milton Keynes 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 Milton Keynes 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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