Planning Approval Rate in Torridge
Torridge is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 86.7% of applications and decides 96.4% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #195 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Torridge, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Torridge District Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 562 decisions (487 granted, 75 refused).
How Torridge compares
| Torridge | 86.7% |
| South West average | 89.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Torridge is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Torridge?
Torridge is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 86.7% of the applications it decides (rank 195th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 86.7% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South West it is the 19th most approving of 27 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.5%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 75 of its 562 decisions were refusals (13.3%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 88.9% of major developments approved versus 92.8% of householder and other small-scale work, from 27 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 96.4% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 562 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 Stroud (87.3%, more approving) and Bristol, City of (86%, stricter). For context in South West, Cheltenham approves the most (96.5%) and Gloucester the least (80.5%).
Compare Torridge with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South West. See the full South West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Torridge
Live planning activity in Torridge District Council
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 Torridge District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Torridge District Council
Recent applications in Torridge District Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Torridge page.
Embed this stat
Free to embed on your site with a credit link to PlanWatch:
Planning permission in Torridge: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Torridge?
On the latest official figures Torridge is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 86.7% of the 562 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Torridge approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 86.7% approved and 13.3% refused — 487 granted and 75 refused of 562 decisions, with major schemes approved at 88.9% and householder and other work at 92.8%.
How quickly does Torridge decide planning applications?
On timing Torridge is a little faster than average: 96.4% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Torridge stricter than nearby councils?
Torridge's 86.7% approval rate makes it the 19th most approving of 27 authorities in South West, against a 89.5% regional average. Neighbouring Stroud approves 87.3% and Bristol, City of 86%.
Can I use Torridge's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Torridge 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 Torridge District 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.
Download the data (JSON) · CSV · National league table · South West league table
Track live decisions in Torridge
Set a free alert and get emailed when a planning application near you is decided.
See planning in TorridgeRelated: tree surveys in Torridge · all applications