Planning Approval Rate in Peterborough
Peterborough is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 83.6% of applications and decides 82.7% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #244 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Peterborough, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Peterborough.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 706 decisions (590 granted, 116 refused).
How Peterborough compares
| Peterborough | 83.6% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Peterborough is 3.4 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Peterborough?
Peterborough is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 83.6% of the applications it decides (rank 244th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 83.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 32nd most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 116 of its 706 decisions were refusals (16.4%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 73.7% of major developments approved versus 85.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 38 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 82.7% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 706 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its East of England neighbours it sits between Central Bedfordshire (83.6%, more approving) and Brentwood (83.3%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Peterborough with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in East of England. See the full East of England league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Peterborough
Live planning activity in Peterborough
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 3 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Peterborough
Where planning activity concentrates in Peterborough
Recent applications in Peterborough
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Peterborough page.
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Planning permission in Peterborough: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Peterborough?
On the latest official figures Peterborough is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 83.6% of the 706 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Peterborough approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 83.6% approved and 16.4% refused — 590 granted and 116 refused of 706 decisions, with major schemes approved at 73.7% and householder and other work at 85.4%.
How quickly does Peterborough decide planning applications?
On timing Peterborough is among the slower authorities: 82.7% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Peterborough stricter than nearby councils?
Peterborough's 83.6% approval rate makes it the 32nd most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring Central Bedfordshire approves 83.6% and Brentwood 83.3%.
Can I use Peterborough's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Peterborough 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 Peterborough 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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