Planning Approval Rate in Warrington
Warrington is markedly stricter than the typical English council for planning permission: it approves 76.2% of applications and decides 94.9% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #297 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Warrington, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Warrington Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 901 decisions (687 granted, 214 refused).
How Warrington compares
| Warrington | 76.2% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Warrington is 10.8 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Warrington?
Warrington is among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, granting 76.2% of the applications it decides (rank 297th of 310). That puts it markedly stricter than the typical English council — 76.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the strictest of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 214 of its 901 decisions were refusals (23.8%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 85.7% of major developments approved versus 77.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 28 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 94.9% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 901 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. It is stricter than its nearest North West peer by rank, Hyndburn (77.4%). At the other end of North West, Cumberland is the most approving, at 96.8%.
Compare Warrington with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Warrington
Live planning activity in Warrington Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 24 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Warrington Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Warrington Borough Council
Recent applications in Warrington Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Warrington page.
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Planning permission in Warrington: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Warrington?
On the latest official figures Warrington is markedly stricter than the typical English council and among the ten per cent strictest authorities in England, approving 76.2% of the 901 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Warrington approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 76.2% approved and 23.8% refused — 687 granted and 214 refused of 901 decisions, with major schemes approved at 85.7% and householder and other work at 77.4%.
How quickly does Warrington decide planning applications?
On timing Warrington is a little faster than average: 94.9% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Warrington stricter than nearby councils?
Warrington's 76.2% approval rate makes it the strictest of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Hyndburn approves 77.4%.
Can I use Warrington's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Warrington 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 Warrington 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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