Planning Approval Rate in Waverley
Waverley is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 87.3% of applications and decides 95.4% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #174 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Waverley, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Waverley Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,377 decisions (1,202 granted, 175 refused).
How Waverley compares
| Waverley | 87.3% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Waverley is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Waverley?
Waverley is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 87.3% of the applications it decides (rank 174th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 87.3% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 38th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 175 of its 1,377 decisions were refusals (12.7%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 77.1% of major developments approved versus 90.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 35 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 95.4% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,377 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 Reigate and Banstead (87.4%, more approving) and Ashford (87.2%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Waverley with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Waverley
Live planning activity in Waverley Borough 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 Waverley Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Waverley Borough Council
Recent applications in Waverley Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Waverley page.
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Planning permission in Waverley: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Waverley?
On the latest official figures Waverley is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 87.3% of the 1,377 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Waverley approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 87.3% approved and 12.7% refused — 1,202 granted and 175 refused of 1,377 decisions, with major schemes approved at 77.1% and householder and other work at 90.4%.
How quickly does Waverley decide planning applications?
On timing Waverley is a little faster than average: 95.4% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Waverley stricter than nearby councils?
Waverley's 87.3% approval rate makes it the 38th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring Reigate and Banstead approves 87.4% and Ashford 87.2%.
Can I use Waverley's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Waverley 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 Waverley 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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