Planning Approval Rate in Torbay
Torbay is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 85.6% of applications and decides 81.4% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #217 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Torbay, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Torbay Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 533 decisions (456 granted, 77 refused).
How Torbay compares
| Torbay | 85.6% |
| South West average | 89.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Torbay is 1.4 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Torbay?
Torbay is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 85.6% of the applications it decides (rank 217th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 85.6% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South West it is the 21st most approving of 27 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.5%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 77 of its 533 decisions were refusals (14.4%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 88.2% of major developments approved versus 87.9% of householder and other small-scale work, from 17 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 81.4% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 533 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South West neighbours it sits between Bristol, City of (86%, more approving) and Exeter (85.2%, stricter). For context in South West, Cheltenham approves the most (96.5%) and Gloucester the least (80.5%).
Compare Torbay with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South West. See the full South West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Torbay
Live planning activity in Torbay Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 18 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Torbay Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Torbay Council
Recent applications in Torbay Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Torbay page.
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Planning permission in Torbay: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Torbay?
On the latest official figures Torbay is close to the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 85.6% of the 533 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Torbay approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 85.6% approved and 14.4% refused — 456 granted and 77 refused of 533 decisions, with major schemes approved at 88.2% and householder and other work at 87.9%.
How quickly does Torbay decide planning applications?
On timing Torbay is among the slower authorities: 81.4% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Torbay stricter than nearby councils?
Torbay's 85.6% approval rate makes it the 21st most approving of 27 authorities in South West, against a 89.5% regional average. Neighbouring Bristol, City of approves 86% and Exeter 85.2%.
Can I use Torbay's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Torbay 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 Torbay 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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