Planning Approval Rate in Sheffield
Sheffield is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 87.2% of applications and decides 88.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #178 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Sheffield, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Sheffield.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,765 decisions (1,539 granted, 226 refused).
How Sheffield compares
| Sheffield | 87.2% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber average | 87.4% |
| England average | 87% |
Sheffield is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Sheffield?
Sheffield is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 87.2% of the applications it decides (rank 178th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 87.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within Yorkshire and the Humber it is the 8th most approving of 15 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.4%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 226 of its 1,765 decisions were refusals (12.8%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 90.3% of major developments approved versus 89% of householder and other small-scale work, from 72 major decisions.
On timing it is a little slower than average, deciding 88.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,765 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its Yorkshire and the Humber neighbours it sits between East Riding of Yorkshire (89.4%, more approving) and Doncaster (86.1%, stricter). For context in Yorkshire and the Humber, North East Lincolnshire approves the most (95.3%) and Rotherham the least (79.9%).
Compare Sheffield with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber. See the full Yorkshire and the Humber league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Sheffield
Live planning activity in Sheffield
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 Sheffield
Where planning activity concentrates in Sheffield
Recent applications in Sheffield
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Sheffield page.
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Planning permission in Sheffield: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Sheffield?
On the latest official figures Sheffield is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 87.2% of the 1,765 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Sheffield approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 87.2% approved and 12.8% refused — 1,539 granted and 226 refused of 1,765 decisions, with major schemes approved at 90.3% and householder and other work at 89%.
How quickly does Sheffield decide planning applications?
On timing Sheffield is a little slower than average: 88.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Sheffield stricter than nearby councils?
Sheffield's 87.2% approval rate makes it the 8th most approving of 15 authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber, against a 87.4% regional average. Neighbouring East Riding of Yorkshire approves 89.4% and Doncaster 86.1%.
Can I use Sheffield's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Sheffield 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 Sheffield 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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