Planning Approval Rate in Vale of White Horse
Vale of White Horse is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 95.5% of applications and decides 95.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #16 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Vale of White Horse: how hard it is to get planning permission, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours, from official government statistics.
Looking for a particular application rather than the statistics? Search Vale of White Horse planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 986 decisions (942 granted, 44 refused).
How Vale of White Horse compares
| Vale of White Horse | 95.5% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Vale of White Horse is 8.5 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Vale of White Horse?
Vale of White Horse is among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, granting 95.5% of the applications it decides (rank 16th of 310). That puts it markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council — 95.5% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 2nd most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are rare here: 44 of its 986 decisions were refusals (4.5%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 89.8% of major developments approved versus 96.6% of householder and other small-scale work, from 49 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 95.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 986 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South East neighbours it sits between Fareham (98%, more approving) and Rushmoor (95.5%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Vale of White Horse with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Vale of White Horse
Live planning activity in Vale of White Horse District Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 7 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Vale of White Horse District Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Vale of White Horse District Council
Recent applications in Vale of White Horse District Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Vale of White Horse planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Vale of White Horse: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Vale of White Horse?
On the latest official figures Vale of White Horse is markedly more likely to approve than the typical English council and among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, approving 95.5% of the 986 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Vale of White Horse approve or refuse?
Refusals are rare here: 95.5% approved and 4.5% refused — 942 granted and 44 refused of 986 decisions, with major schemes approved at 89.8% and householder and other work at 96.6%.
How quickly does Vale of White Horse decide planning applications?
On timing Vale of White Horse is a little faster than average: 95.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Vale of White Horse stricter than nearby councils?
Vale of White Horse's 95.5% approval rate makes it the 2nd most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Fareham approves 98% and Rushmoor 95.5%.
Can I use Vale of White Horse's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Vale of White Horse 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 Vale of White Horse 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.
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