Planning Approval Rate in Wokingham
Wokingham is somewhat more approving than the England average for planning permission: it approves 94.7% of applications and decides 99.1% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #28 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in Wokingham, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across Wokingham Borough Council.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,132 decisions (1,072 granted, 60 refused).
How Wokingham compares
| Wokingham | 94.7% |
| South East average | 87.2% |
| England average | 87% |
Wokingham is 7.7 points easier than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in Wokingham?
Wokingham is among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, granting 94.7% of the applications it decides (rank 28th of 310). That puts it somewhat more approving than the England average — 94.7% approved against an England average of 87%. Within South East it is the 6th most approving of 65 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.2%. Refusals are uncommon here: 60 of its 1,132 decisions were refusals (5.3%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 90% of major developments approved versus 96.4% of householder and other small-scale work, from 50 major decisions.
On timing it is among the faster authorities, deciding 99.1% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on a mid-sized caseload of 1,132 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 West Oxfordshire (94.8%, more approving) and South Oxfordshire (94.4%, stricter). For context in South East, Fareham approves the most (98%) and Windsor and Maidenhead the least (68.9%).
Compare Wokingham with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in South East. See the full South East league table.
Approval rate by development scale in Wokingham
Live planning activity in Wokingham Borough Council
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 21 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in Wokingham Borough Council
Where planning activity concentrates in Wokingham Borough Council
Recent applications in Wokingham Borough Council
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch Wokingham page.
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Planning permission in Wokingham: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in Wokingham?
On the latest official figures Wokingham is somewhat more approving than the England average and among the ten per cent most approving authorities in England, approving 94.7% of the 1,132 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does Wokingham approve or refuse?
Refusals are uncommon here: 94.7% approved and 5.3% refused — 1,072 granted and 60 refused of 1,132 decisions, with major schemes approved at 90% and householder and other work at 96.4%.
How quickly does Wokingham decide planning applications?
On timing Wokingham is among the faster authorities: 99.1% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is Wokingham stricter than nearby councils?
Wokingham's 94.7% approval rate makes it the 6th most approving of 65 authorities in South East, against a 87.2% regional average. Neighbouring West Oxfordshire approves 94.8% and South Oxfordshire 94.4%.
Can I use Wokingham's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application Wokingham 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 Wokingham 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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