Planning Approval Rate in Staffordshire Moorlands
Staffordshire Moorlands is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 80% of applications and decides 95.2% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #275 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Staffordshire Moorlands, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Staffordshire Moorlands District Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 419 decisions (335 granted, 84 refused).
How Staffordshire Moorlands compares
| Staffordshire Moorlands | 80% |
| West Midlands average | 87.8% |
| England average | 87% |
Staffordshire Moorlands is 7 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Staffordshire Moorlands?
Staffordshire Moorlands is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 80% of the applications it decides (rank 275th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 80% approved against an England average of 87%. Within West Midlands it is the 29th most approving of 30 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.8%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 84 of its 419 decisions were refusals (20%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 76.9% of major developments approved versus 82.5% of householder and other small-scale work, from 13 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 95.2% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 419 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its West Midlands neighbours it sits between Birmingham (82.6%, more approving) and Lichfield (79.7%, stricter). For context in West Midlands, Redditch approves the most (96.2%) and Lichfield the least (79.7%).
Compare Staffordshire Moorlands with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in West Midlands. See the full West Midlands league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Staffordshire Moorlands
Live planning activity in Staffordshire Moorlands District 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 Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
Recent applications in Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Staffordshire Moorlands page.
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Planning permission in Staffordshire Moorlands: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Staffordshire Moorlands?
On the latest official figures Staffordshire Moorlands is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 80% of the 419 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Staffordshire Moorlands approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 80% approved and 20% refused — 335 granted and 84 refused of 419 decisions, with major schemes approved at 76.9% and householder and other work at 82.5%.
How quickly does Staffordshire Moorlands decide planning applications?
On timing Staffordshire Moorlands is a little faster than average: 95.2% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Staffordshire Moorlands stricter than nearby councils?
Staffordshire Moorlands's 80% approval rate makes it the 29th most approving of 30 authorities in West Midlands, against a 87.8% regional average. Neighbouring Birmingham approves 82.6% and Lichfield 79.7%.
Can I use Staffordshire Moorlands's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Staffordshire Moorlands 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 Staffordshire Moorlands District 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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