Planning Approval Rate in Reigate and Banstead
Reigate and Banstead is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 87.4% of applications and decides 92.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #173 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Reigate and Banstead, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Reigate and Banstead Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,027 decisions (898 granted, 129 refused).
How Reigate and Banstead compares
| Reigate and Banstead | 87.4% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Reigate and Banstead is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Reigate and Banstead?
Reigate and Banstead is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 87.4% of the applications it decides (rank 173rd of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 87.4% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 37th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 129 of its 1,027 decisions were refusals (12.6%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 84.6% of major developments approved versus 90% of householder and other small-scale work, from 13 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 a mid-sized caseload of 1,027 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 Rother (88.2%, more approving) and Waverley (87.3%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Reigate and Banstead with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Reigate and Banstead
Live planning activity in Reigate and Banstead Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 25 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Reigate and Banstead Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Reigate and Banstead Borough Council
Recent applications in Reigate and Banstead Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Reigate and Banstead page.
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Planning permission in Reigate and Banstead: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Reigate and Banstead?
On the latest official figures Reigate and Banstead is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 87.4% of the 1,027 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Reigate and Banstead approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 87.4% approved and 12.6% refused — 898 granted and 129 refused of 1,027 decisions, with major schemes approved at 84.6% and householder and other work at 90%.
How quickly does Reigate and Banstead decide planning applications?
On timing Reigate and Banstead 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 Reigate and Banstead stricter than nearby councils?
Reigate and Banstead's 87.4% approval rate makes it the 37th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Rother approves 88.2% and Waverley 87.3%.
Can I use Reigate and Banstead's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Reigate and Banstead 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 Reigate and Banstead Borough Council 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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