Planning Approval Rate in Tower Hamlets
Tower Hamlets is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 81.2% of applications and decides 92% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #268 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Tower Hamlets, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Tower Hamlets.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,036 decisions (841 granted, 195 refused).
How Tower Hamlets compares
| Tower Hamlets | 81.2% |
| London average | 82.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Tower Hamlets is 5.8 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Tower Hamlets?
Tower Hamlets is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 81.2% of the applications it decides (rank 268th of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 81.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within London it is the 19th most approving of 34 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 82.5%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 195 of its 1,036 decisions were refusals (18.8%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 83.3% of major developments approved versus 80.7% of householder and other small-scale work, from 36 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 92% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 1,036 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its London neighbours it sits between Newham (81.5%, more approving) and Richmond upon Thames (80%, stricter). For context in London, Hammersmith and Fulham approves the most (97.2%) and Barking and Dagenham the least (66.2%).
Compare Tower Hamlets with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in London. See the full London league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Tower Hamlets
Live planning activity in Tower Hamlets
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 20 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Tower Hamlets
Where planning activity concentrates in Tower Hamlets
Recent applications in Tower Hamlets
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Tower Hamlets page.
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Planning permission in Tower Hamlets: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Tower Hamlets?
On the latest official figures Tower Hamlets is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 81.2% of the 1,036 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Tower Hamlets approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 81.2% approved and 18.8% refused — 841 granted and 195 refused of 1,036 decisions, with major schemes approved at 83.3% and householder and other work at 80.7%.
How quickly does Tower Hamlets decide planning applications?
On timing Tower Hamlets is about average on speed: 92% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Tower Hamlets stricter than nearby councils?
Tower Hamlets's 81.2% approval rate makes it the 19th most approving of 34 authorities in London, against a 82.5% regional average. Neighbouring Newham approves 81.5% and Richmond upon Thames 80%.
Can I use Tower Hamlets's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Tower Hamlets 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 Tower Hamlets 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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