Planning Approval Rate in New Forest National Park

New Forest National Park is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 91.9% of the applications it decides (rank 90th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 91.9% approved against an England average of 87%. Within National Parks it is the 6th most approving of 10 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 91.2%. Refusals are uncommon here: 38 of its 468 decisions were refusals (8.1%). On the split by scale it is far tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 76.9% of major developments approved versus 93.5% of householder and other small-scale work, from 13 major decisions.

On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 74.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 468 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its National Parks neighbours it sits between Yorkshire Dales National Park (92%, more approving) and South Downs National Park (91.8%, stricter). For context in National Parks, Northumberland National Park approves the most (94.6%) and Peak District National Park the least (86.5%).