Planning Approval Rate in Plymouth
Plymouth is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 92.8% of applications and decides 96.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #71 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Plymouth, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Plymouth.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 677 decisions (628 granted, 49 refused).
How Plymouth compares
| Plymouth | 92.8% |
| South West average | 89.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Plymouth is 5.8 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Plymouth?
Plymouth is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 92.8% of the applications it decides (rank 71st of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 92.8% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South West it is the 6th most approving of 27 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.5%. Refusals are uncommon here: 49 of its 677 decisions were refusals (7.2%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 93.3% of householder and other small-scale work, from 22 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 96.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 677 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South West neighbours it sits between Wiltshire (93%, more approving) and Cornwall (92.6%, stricter). For context in South West, Cheltenham approves the most (96.5%) and Gloucester the least (80.5%).
Compare Plymouth with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South West. See the full South West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Plymouth
Live planning activity in Plymouth
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 4 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Plymouth
Where planning activity concentrates in Plymouth
Recent applications in Plymouth
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Plymouth page.
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Planning permission in Plymouth: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Plymouth?
On the latest official figures Plymouth is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 92.8% of the 677 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Plymouth approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 92.8% approved and 7.2% refused — 628 granted and 49 refused of 677 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 93.3%.
How quickly does Plymouth decide planning applications?
On timing Plymouth is among the faster authorities: 96.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Plymouth stricter than nearby councils?
Plymouth's 92.8% approval rate makes it the 6th most approving of 27 authorities in South West, against a 89.5% regional average. Neighbouring Wiltshire approves 93% and Cornwall 92.6%.
Can I use Plymouth's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Plymouth 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 Plymouth 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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