Planning Approval Rate in Test Valley
Test Valley is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 92.5% of applications and decides 92.8% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #76 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Test Valley, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Test Valley Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,015 decisions (939 granted, 76 refused).
How Test Valley compares
| Test Valley | 92.5% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Test Valley is 5.5 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Test Valley?
Test Valley is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 92.5% of the applications it decides (rank 76th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 92.5% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 16th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are uncommon here: 76 of its 1,015 decisions were refusals (7.5%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 86.2% of major developments approved versus 95.3% of householder and other small-scale work, from 29 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 92.8% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 1,015 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 Worthing (93.3%, more approving) and Adur (92.3%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Test Valley with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Test Valley
Live planning activity in Test Valley Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 7 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Test Valley Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Test Valley Borough Council
Recent applications in Test Valley Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Test Valley page.
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Planning permission in Test Valley: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Test Valley?
On the latest official figures Test Valley is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 92.5% of the 1,015 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Test Valley approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 92.5% approved and 7.5% refused — 939 granted and 76 refused of 1,015 decisions, with major schemes approved at 86.2% and householder and other work at 95.3%.
How quickly does Test Valley decide planning applications?
On timing Test Valley is a little faster than average: 92.8% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Test Valley stricter than nearby councils?
Test Valley's 92.5% approval rate makes it the 16th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Worthing approves 93.3% and Adur 92.3%.
Can I use Test Valley's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Test Valley 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 Test Valley 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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