Planning Approval Rate in Swale
Swale is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 89.5% of applications and decides 94.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #138 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Swale: 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 Swale planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 678 decisions (607 granted, 71 refused).
How Swale compares
| Swale | 89.5% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Swale is 2.5 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Swale?
Swale is a little more approving than the median English authority, granting 89.5% of the applications it decides (rank 138th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 89.5% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 31st most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are uncommon here: 71 of its 678 decisions were refusals (10.5%). On the split by scale it is far tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 77.2% of major developments approved versus 93.2% of householder and other small-scale work, from 57 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 94.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 678 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South East neighbours it sits between Chichester (89.5%, more approving) and Eastleigh (89.2%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Swale with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Swale
Live planning activity in Swale Borough Council
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 Swale Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Swale Borough Council
Recent applications in Swale Borough Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Swale planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Swale: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Swale?
On the latest official figures Swale is close to the England average and a little more approving than the median English authority, approving 89.5% of the 678 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Swale approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 89.5% approved and 10.5% refused — 607 granted and 71 refused of 678 decisions, with major schemes approved at 77.2% and householder and other work at 93.2%.
How quickly does Swale decide planning applications?
On timing Swale is a little faster than average: 94.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Swale stricter than nearby councils?
Swale's 89.5% approval rate makes it the 31st most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Chichester approves 89.5% and Eastleigh 89.2%.
Can I use Swale's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Swale 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 Swale 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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