Planning Approval Rate in St. Helens
St. Helens is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 93.9% of applications and decides 99.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #48 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in St. Helens, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across St. Helens.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 495 decisions (465 granted, 30 refused).
How St. Helens compares
| St. Helens | 93.9% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
St. Helens is 6.9 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in St. Helens?
St. Helens is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 93.9% of the applications it decides (rank 48th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 93.9% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 7th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are uncommon here: 30 of its 495 decisions were refusals (6.1%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 87.5% of major developments approved versus 94.5% of householder and other small-scale work, from 24 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 99.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 495 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North West neighbours it sits between Blackburn with Darwen (94.4%, more approving) and Knowsley (93.4%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare St. Helens with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in St. Helens
Live planning activity in St. Helens
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 21 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in St. Helens
Where planning activity concentrates in St. Helens
Recent applications in St. Helens
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch St. Helens page.
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Planning permission in St. Helens: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in St. Helens?
On the latest official figures St. Helens is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 93.9% of the 495 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does St. Helens approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 93.9% approved and 6.1% refused — 465 granted and 30 refused of 495 decisions, with major schemes approved at 87.5% and householder and other work at 94.5%.
How quickly does St. Helens decide planning applications?
On timing St. Helens is among the faster authorities: 99.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is St. Helens stricter than nearby councils?
St. Helens's 93.9% approval rate makes it the 7th most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Blackburn with Darwen approves 94.4% and Knowsley 93.4%.
Can I use St. Helens's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application St. Helens 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 St. Helens 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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