Planning Approval Rate in Stevenage
Stevenage is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 94% of applications and decides 94% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #47 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Stevenage, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Stevenage Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 266 decisions (250 granted, 16 refused).
How Stevenage compares
| Stevenage | 94% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Stevenage is 7 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Stevenage?
Stevenage is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 94% of the applications it decides (rank 47th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 94% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 4th most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are uncommon here: 16 of its 266 decisions were refusals (6%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 93.7% of householder and other small-scale work, from 10 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 94% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a relatively light caseload of 266 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its East of England neighbours it sits between South Norfolk (94%, more approving) and South Cambridgeshire (92.6%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Stevenage with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in East of England. See the full East of England league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Stevenage
Live planning activity in Stevenage Borough Council
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 Stevenage Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Stevenage Borough Council
Recent applications in Stevenage Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Stevenage page.
Embed this stat
Free to embed on your site with a credit link to PlanWatch:
Planning permission in Stevenage: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Stevenage?
On the latest official figures Stevenage is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 94% of the 266 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Stevenage approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 94% approved and 6% refused — 250 granted and 16 refused of 266 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 93.7%.
How quickly does Stevenage decide planning applications?
On timing Stevenage is a little faster than average: 94% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Stevenage stricter than nearby councils?
Stevenage's 94% approval rate makes it the 4th most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring South Norfolk approves 94% and South Cambridgeshire 92.6%.
Can I use Stevenage's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Stevenage 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 Stevenage 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.
Download the data (JSON) · CSV · National league table · East of England league table
Track live decisions in Stevenage
Set a free alert and get emailed when a planning application near you is decided.
See planning in StevenageRelated: tree surveys in Stevenage · all applications