Planning Approval Rate in Trafford
Trafford is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 86% of applications and decides 93% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #207 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Trafford, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,451 decisions (1,248 granted, 203 refused).
How Trafford compares
| Trafford | 86% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Trafford is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Trafford?
Trafford is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 86% of the applications it decides (rank 207th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 86% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 24th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 203 of its 1,451 decisions were refusals (14%). On the split by scale it is about as likely to approve major schemes as small ones: 89.7% of major developments approved versus 86.2% of householder and other small-scale work, from 39 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 93% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,451 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its North West neighbours it sits between Wigan (86.8%, more approving) and Pendle (86%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Trafford with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Trafford
Live planning activity in Trafford Metropolitan Borough 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 Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council
Recent applications in Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Trafford page.
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Planning permission in Trafford: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Trafford?
On the latest official figures Trafford is close to the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 86% of the 1,451 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Trafford approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 86% approved and 14% refused — 1,248 granted and 203 refused of 1,451 decisions, with major schemes approved at 89.7% and householder and other work at 86.2%.
How quickly does Trafford decide planning applications?
On timing Trafford is a little faster than average: 93% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Trafford stricter than nearby councils?
Trafford's 86% approval rate makes it the 24th most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Wigan approves 86.8% and Pendle 86%.
Can I use Trafford's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Trafford 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 Trafford Metropolitan 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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