Planning Approval Rate in York
York is somewhat stricter than the England average for planning permission: it approves 83.7% of applications and decides 88.8% of them within the statutory time limit, ranking #241 of 310 English authorities. This page sets out how hard it is to get planning permission in York, how quickly the council decides, and how it compares with its neighbours — from official government figures plus the live planning activity PlanWatch tracks across York.
Source: official MHCLG planning statistics (PS2), 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Based on 1,243 decisions (1,040 granted, 203 refused).
How York compares
| York | 83.7% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber average | 87.4% |
| England average | 87% |
York is 3.3 points stricter than the England average.
How hard is it to get planning permission in York?
York is in the stricter third of English authorities, granting 83.7% of the applications it decides (rank 241st of 310). That puts it somewhat stricter than the England average — 83.7% approved against an England average of 87%. Within Yorkshire and the Humber it is the 13th most approving of 15 local planning authorities, where the regional average is 87.4%. Refusals are fairly frequent here: 203 of its 1,243 decisions were refusals (16.3%). On the split by scale it is somewhat tougher on major schemes than on small ones: 78.1% of major developments approved versus 84.8% of householder and other small-scale work, from 32 major decisions.
On timing it is about average on speed, deciding 88.8% of applications within the statutory period against 90.6% nationally. Its figures rest on one of the heavier caseloads of 1,243 decisions over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, where the typical English authority decides around 783. Among its Yorkshire and the Humber neighbours it sits between Calderdale (84.6%, more approving) and Leeds (83.4%, stricter). For context in Yorkshire and the Humber, North East Lincolnshire approves the most (95.3%) and Rotherham the least (79.9%).
Compare York with nearby councils
Approval rates for other authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber. See the full Yorkshire and the Humber league table.
Approval rate by development scale in York
Live planning activity in York
From the latest planning data PlanWatch holds (to 28 August 2026). These are the records we've collected — the freshness the annual government table lacks.
What people apply for in York
Where planning activity concentrates in York
Recent applications in York
Track live decisions near a postcode on the PlanWatch York page.
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Planning permission in York: common questions
Is it hard to get planning permission in York?
On the latest official figures York is somewhat stricter than the England average and in the stricter third of English authorities, approving 83.7% of the 1,243 applications it decided over 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 against 87% for England.
What percentage of planning applications does York approve or refuse?
Refusals are fairly frequent here: 83.7% approved and 16.3% refused — 1,040 granted and 203 refused of 1,243 decisions, with major schemes approved at 78.1% and householder and other work at 84.8%.
How quickly does York decide planning applications?
On timing York is about average on speed: 88.8% of applications were decided within the statutory period — eight weeks for most, thirteen for major schemes — against 90.6% nationally.
Is York stricter than nearby councils?
York's 83.7% approval rate makes it the 13th most approving of 15 authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber, against a 87.4% regional average. Neighbouring Calderdale approves 84.6% and Leeds 83.4%.
Can I use York's approval rate to predict whether my application will be approved?
No — the approval rate is a historic average across every application York 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 York 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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