Planning Approval Rate in Stockport
Stockport is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 95.1% of applications and decides 98.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #21 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Stockport: how hard it is to get planning permission, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours, from official government statistics.
Looking for a particular application rather than the statistics? Search Stockport planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,293 decisions (1,229 granted, 64 refused).
How Stockport compares
| Stockport | 95.1% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Stockport is 8.1 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Stockport?
Stockport is among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, granting 95.1% of the applications it decides (rank 21st of 310). That puts it markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council — 95.1% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 3rd most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are rare here: 64 of its 1,293 decisions were refusals (4.9%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 96.2% of major developments approved versus 95.3% of householder and other small-scale work, from 26 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 98.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,293 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 Fylde (95.7%, more approving) and Halton (94.9%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Stockport with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Stockport
Live planning activity in Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 9 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Recent applications in Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Stockport planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Stockport: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Stockport?
On the latest official figures Stockport is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council and among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, approving 95.1% of the 1,293 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Stockport approve or refuse?
Refusals are rare here: 95.1% approved and 4.9% refused — 1,229 granted and 64 refused of 1,293 decisions, with major schemes approved at 96.2% and householder and other work at 95.3%.
How quickly does Stockport decide planning applications?
On timing Stockport is among the faster authorities: 98.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Stockport stricter than nearby councils?
Stockport's 95.1% approval rate makes it the 3rd most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Fylde approves 95.7% and Halton 94.9%.
Can I use Stockport's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Stockport 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 Stockport Metropolitan 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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