Planning Approval Rate in Tameside
Tameside is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 87% of applications and decides 96.1% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #185 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Tameside, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 569 decisions (495 granted, 74 refused).
How Tameside compares
| Tameside | 87% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Tameside is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Tameside?
Tameside is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 87% of the applications it decides (rank 185th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 87% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 20th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 74 of its 569 decisions were refusals (13%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 90.5% of major developments approved versus 89% of householder and other small-scale work, from 21 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 96.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 569 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 Manchester (87.2%, more approving) and Cheshire East (86.9%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Tameside with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Tameside
Live planning activity in Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 4 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
Recent applications in Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Tameside page.
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Planning permission in Tameside: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Tameside?
On the latest official figures Tameside is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 87% of the 569 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Tameside approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 87% approved and 13% refused — 495 granted and 74 refused of 569 decisions, with major schemes approved at 90.5% and householder and other work at 89%.
How quickly does Tameside decide planning applications?
On timing Tameside is a little faster than average: 96.1% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Tameside stricter than nearby councils?
Tameside's 87% approval rate makes it the 20th most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Manchester approves 87.2% and Cheshire East 86.9%.
Can I use Tameside's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Tameside 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 Tameside 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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