Planning Approval Rate in Wigan
Wigan is close to the England average for planning permission: it approves 86.8% of applications and decides 95.9% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #190 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Wigan, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 712 decisions (618 granted, 94 refused).
How Wigan compares
| Wigan | 86.8% |
| North West average | 88.3% |
| England average | 87% |
Wigan is about average for England.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Wigan?
Wigan is a little stricter than the median English authority, granting 86.8% of the applications it decides (rank 190th of 310). That puts it close to the England average — 86.8% approved against an England average of 87%. Within North West it is the 23rd most approving of 35 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 88.3%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 94 of its 712 decisions were refusals (13.2%). On the split by scale it is somewhat more lenient on major schemes than on small ones: 94.5% of major developments approved versus 86.2% of householder and other small-scale work, from 55 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 95.9% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 712 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 Wirral (86.9%, more approving) and Trafford (86%, stricter). For context in North West, Cumberland approves the most (96.8%) and Warrington the least (76.2%).
Compare Wigan with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in North West. See the full North West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Wigan
Live planning activity in Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 25 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
Recent applications in Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Wigan page.
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Planning permission in Wigan: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Wigan?
On the latest official figures Wigan is close to the England average and a little stricter than the median English authority, approving 86.8% of the 712 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Wigan approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 86.8% approved and 13.2% refused — 618 granted and 94 refused of 712 decisions, with major schemes approved at 94.5% and householder and other work at 86.2%.
How quickly does Wigan decide planning applications?
On timing Wigan is a little faster than average: 95.9% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Wigan stricter than nearby councils?
Wigan's 86.8% approval rate makes it the 23rd most approving of 35 authorities in North West, against a 88.3% regional average. Neighbouring Wirral approves 86.9% and Trafford 86%.
Can I use Wigan's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Wigan 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 Wigan Metropolitan 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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