Planning Approval Rate in Thurrock
Thurrock is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 81.4% of applications and decides 98% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #267 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Thurrock, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Thurrock.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 711 decisions (579 granted, 132 refused).
How Thurrock compares
| Thurrock | 81.4% |
| East of England average | 86.1% |
| England average | 87% |
Thurrock is 5.6 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Thurrock?
Thurrock is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 81.4% of the applications it decides (rank 267th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 81.4% approved against an England average of 87%. Within East of England it is the 37th most approving of 45 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 86.1%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 132 of its 711 decisions were refusals (18.6%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 77.8% of major developments approved versus 82.6% of householder and other small-scale work, from 27 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 98% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 711 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its East of England neighbours it sits between Southend-on-Sea (81.4%, more approving) and East Hertfordshire (79.8%, stricter). For context in East of England, Norwich approves the most (95.6%) and Epping Forest the least (66.1%).
Compare Thurrock with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in East of England. See the full East of England league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Thurrock
Live planning activity in Thurrock
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 25 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Thurrock
Where planning activity concentrates in Thurrock
Recent applications in Thurrock
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Thurrock page.
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Planning permission in Thurrock: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Thurrock?
On the latest official figures Thurrock is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 81.4% of the 711 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Thurrock approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 81.4% approved and 18.6% refused — 579 granted and 132 refused of 711 decisions, with major schemes approved at 77.8% and householder and other work at 82.6%.
How quickly does Thurrock decide planning applications?
On timing Thurrock is among the faster authorities: 98% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Thurrock stricter than nearby councils?
Thurrock's 81.4% approval rate makes it the 37th most approving of 45 authorities in East of England, against a 86.1% regional average. Neighbouring Southend-on-Sea approves 81.4% and East Hertfordshire 79.8%.
Can I use Thurrock's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Thurrock 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 Thurrock 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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