Planning Approval Rate in Westmorland and Furness
Westmorland and Furness is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 92.2% of applications and decides 91.6% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #87 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Westmorland and Furness, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Westmorland and Furness Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,223 decisions (1,128 granted, 95 refused).
How Westmorland and Furness compares
| Westmorland and Furness | 92.2% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Westmorland and Furness is 5.2 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Westmorland and Furness?
Westmorland and Furness is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 92.2% of the applications it decides (rank 87th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 92.2% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 12th most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are uncommon here: 95 of its 1,223 decisions were refusals (7.8%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 100% of major developments approved versus 92% of householder and other small-scale work, from 50 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 91.6% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,223 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 Chorley (93%, more approving) and Preston (90.5%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Westmorland and Furness with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Westmorland and Furness
Live planning activity in Westmorland and Furness Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 2 September 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Westmorland and Furness Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Westmorland and Furness Council
Recent applications in Westmorland and Furness Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Westmorland and Furness page.
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Planning permission in Westmorland and Furness: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Westmorland and Furness?
On the latest official figures Westmorland and Furness is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 92.2% of the 1,223 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Westmorland and Furness approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 92.2% approved and 7.8% refused — 1,128 granted and 95 refused of 1,223 decisions, with major schemes approved at 100% and householder and other work at 92%.
How quickly does Westmorland and Furness decide planning applications?
On timing Westmorland and Furness is about average on speed: 91.6% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Westmorland and Furness stricter than nearby councils?
Westmorland and Furness's 92.2% approval rate makes it the 12th most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Chorley approves 93% and Preston 90.5%.
Can I use Westmorland and Furness's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Westmorland and Furness 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 Westmorland and Furness 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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