Planning Approval Rate in Wiltshire
Wiltshire is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 93% of applications and decides 94.5% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #65 of 310 English authorities. This is the approval-rate record for Wiltshire: how hard it is to get planning permission, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours, from official government statistics.
Looking for a particular application rather than the statistics? Search Wiltshire planning applications by postcode on PlanWatch.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 3,734 decisions (3,474 granted, 260 refused).
How Wiltshire compares
| Wiltshire | 93% |
| South West average | 89.5% |
| England average | 87% |
Wiltshire is 6 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Wiltshire?
Wiltshire is in the more approving third of English authorities, granting 93% of the applications it decides (rank 65th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 93% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South West it is the 5th most approving of 27 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 89.5%. Refusals are uncommon here: 260 of its 3,734 decisions were refusals (7%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 82.1% of major developments approved versus 95.1% of householder and other small-scale work, from 117 major decisions.
On timing it is a little faster than average, deciding 94.5% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 3,734 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its South West neighbours it sits between North Devon (93.8%, more approving) and Plymouth (92.8%, stricter). For context in South West, Cheltenham approves the most (96.5%) and Gloucester the least (80.5%).
Compare Wiltshire with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South West. See the full South West league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Wiltshire
Live planning activity in Wiltshire Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 13 October 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Wiltshire Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Wiltshire Council
Recent applications in Wiltshire Council
This is a sample, not the full register. Search Wiltshire planning applications by postcode.
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Planning permission in Wiltshire: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Wiltshire?
On the latest official figures Wiltshire is somewhat more approving than the England average and in the more approving third of English authorities, approving 93% of the 3,734 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Wiltshire approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 93% approved and 7% refused — 3,474 granted and 260 refused of 3,734 decisions, with major schemes approved at 82.1% and householder and other work at 95.1%.
How quickly does Wiltshire decide planning applications?
On timing Wiltshire is a little faster than average: 94.5% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Wiltshire stricter than nearby councils?
Wiltshire's 93% approval rate makes it the 5th most approving of 27 authorities in South West, against a 89.5% regional average. Neighbouring North Devon approves 93.8% and Plymouth 92.8%.
Can I use Wiltshire's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Wiltshire 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 Wiltshire 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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