Planning Approval Rate in Waltham Forest
Waltham Forest is markedly stricter than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 74.4% of applications and decides 83.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #301 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Waltham Forest, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Waltham Forest Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,332 decisions (991 granted, 341 refused).
How Waltham Forest compares
| Waltham Forest | 74.4% |
| London average | 82.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Waltham Forest is 12.6 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Waltham Forest?
Waltham Forest is among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, granting 74.4% of the applications it decides (rank 301st of 310). That puts it markedly stricter than the typical English council — 74.4% approved against an England average of 87%. Within London it is the 30th most approving of 34 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 82.5%. Refusals are common here: 341 of its 1,332 decisions were refusals (25.6%). On the split by scale it is strikingly more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 76.6% of householder and other small-scale work, from 13 major decisions.
On timing it is among the slower authorities, deciding 83.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,332 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its London neighbours it sits between Kingston upon Thames (75.1%, more approving) and Redbridge (74%, stricter). For context in London, Hammersmith and Fulham approves the most (97.2%) and Barking and Dagenham the least (66.2%).
Compare Waltham Forest with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in London. See the full London league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Waltham Forest
Live planning activity in Waltham Forest Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 4 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Waltham Forest Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Waltham Forest Council
Recent applications in Waltham Forest Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Waltham Forest page.
Embed this stat
Free to embed on your site with a credit link to PlanWatch:
Planning permission in Waltham Forest: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Waltham Forest?
On the latest official figures Waltham Forest is markedly stricter than the typical English council and among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, approving 74.4% of the 1,332 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Waltham Forest approve or refuse?
Refusals are common here: 74.4% approved and 25.6% refused — 991 granted and 341 refused of 1,332 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 76.6%.
How quickly does Waltham Forest decide planning applications?
On timing Waltham Forest is among the slower authorities: 83.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Waltham Forest stricter than nearby councils?
Waltham Forest's 74.4% approval rate makes it the 30th most approving of 34 authorities in London, against a 82.5% regional average. Neighbouring Kingston upon Thames approves 75.1% and Redbridge 74%.
Can I use Waltham Forest's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Waltham Forest 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 Waltham Forest 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 · London league table
Track live decisions in Waltham Forest
Set a free alert and get emailed when a planning application near you is decided.
See planning in Waltham ForestRelated: tree surveys in Waltham Forest · all applications