Planning Approval Rate in Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 94% of applications and decides 92.1% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #45 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Stockton-on-Tees: 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 Stockton-on-Tees planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 618 decisions (581 granted, 37 refused).
How Stockton-on-Tees compares
| Stockton-on-Tees | 94% |
| North East average | 91.7% |
| England average | 87% |
Stockton-on-Tees is 7 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Stockton-on-Tees?
Stockton-on-Tees is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 94% of the applications it decides (rank 45th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 94% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North East it is the 5th most approving of 14 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 91.7%. Refusals are uncommon here: 37 of its 618 decisions were refusals (6%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 94.3% of major developments approved versus 95.1% of householder and other small-scale work, from 35 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 92.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 618 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North East neighbours it sits between Hartlepool (94.3%, more approving) and County Durham (93.7%, stricter). For context in North East, Redcar and Cleveland approves the most (96.7%) and Middlesbrough the least (77.2%).
Compare Stockton-on-Tees with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North East. See the full North East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Stockton-on-Tees
Live planning activity in Stockton-on-Tees
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 12 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Stockton-on-Tees
Where planning activity concentrates in Stockton-on-Tees
Recent applications in Stockton-on-Tees
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Stockton-on-Tees planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Stockton-on-Tees: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Stockton-on-Tees?
On the latest official figures Stockton-on-Tees is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 94% of the 618 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Stockton-on-Tees approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 94% approved and 6% refused — 581 granted and 37 refused of 618 decisions, with major schemes approved at 94.3% and householder and other work at 95.1%.
How quickly does Stockton-on-Tees decide planning applications?
On timing Stockton-on-Tees is about average on speed: 92.1% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Stockton-on-Tees stricter than nearby councils?
Stockton-on-Tees's 94% approval rate makes it the 5th most approving of 14 authorities in North East, against a 91.7% regional average. Neighbouring Hartlepool approves 94.3% and County Durham 93.7%.
Can I use Stockton-on-Tees's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Stockton-on-Tees 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 Stockton-on-Tees 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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