Planning applications in England: January to March 2024 - statistical release
Published 13 June 2024
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2024
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1. Main points
Between January to March 2024, district level planning authorities in England:
- received 85,800 applications for planning permission, down 11% from the same quarter a year earlier;
- decided 79,100 applications for planning permission, down 9% from the same quarter a year earlier;
- granted 67,400 decisions, down 10% from the same quarter a year earlier; this is equivalent to 85% of decisions, down 1 percentage point from the same quarter a year earlier;
- decided 90% of major applications within 13 weeks or the agreed time, up one percentage point from the same quarter a year earlier; and decided 19% of major applications within the statutory period of 13 weeks, up two percentage points from the same period a year earlier;
- granted 7,800 residential applications, down 7% from the same quarter a year earlier;
- granted 1,600 applications for commercial developments, down 4% from the same quarter a year earlier; and
- decided 39,800 householder development applications, down 15% from the same quarter a year earlier. This accounted for 50% of all decisions, down from 53% a year earlier.
In the year ending March 2024, district level planning authorities:
- granted 285,300 decisions, down 13% from the year ending March 2023; and
- granted 32,000 residential applications, down 8% from the year ending March 2023.
2. Introduction
Accredited Official Statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. These statistics have been independently reviewed by the regulator and found to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.
This statistical release presents Accredited Official Statistics on authorities that undertake district and county level planning activities in England. It covers information on planning applications received and decided, including decisions on applications for residential developments (dwellings) and enforcement activities. Data are provided at national and local planning authority level and are based on information reported for the relevant quarters as at 3 May 2024 for the PS1/2 return (‘District matters’) and the CPS1/2 return (‘County matters’).
The separate Technical Notes document includes figures for response rates and a Definitions section which provides a link to a glossary containing details of the main terms used within this release and associated live tables.
The Department has produced an interactive dashboard comprising data from the PS1/2 and CPS1/2 returns and open data (.csv) files to complement the ongoing use of live tables in spreadsheets which are available from the planning applications statistics web page.
3. Authorities undertaking district level planning
A summary of the trends in applications, decisions and permissions granted is provided in Figure 1. The number of applications, decisions and permissions at district level in this publication is usually rounded to the nearest hundred[footnote 1]; unrounded figures are available in the accompanying Live Tables and Dashboard.
3.1 Planning applications received
During January to March 2024, authorities undertaking district level planning in England received 85,800 applications for planning permission, down 11% from the same quarter a year earlier. In the year ending March 2024, authorities received 350,800 planning applications, down 11% from the year ending March 2023 (Live Table P134, PS1 Dashboard).
3.2 Planning decisions
Authorities reported 79,100 decisions on planning applications in January to March 2024, down 9% from the same quarter a year earlier. In the year ending March 2024, authorities decided 332,900 planning applications, down 12% from the year ending March 2023 (Live Tables P120/P133/P134, PS1/PS2 Dashboard).
3.3 Applications granted
During January to March 2024, authorities granted 67,400 decisions, down 10% from the same quarter a year earlier. This represented 85% of all decisions, down 1 percentage point from the same quarter a year earlier. In the year ending March 2024, authorities granted 285,300 decisions, down 13% from the year ending March 2023. Authorities granted 86% of all decisions, down one percentage point from the year ending March 2023 (Live Tables P120/P133, PS2 Dashboard).
3.4 Applications on hand
Authorities reported that they had 120,300 applications on hand as at 1 January 2024, down 14% from the same quarter a year earlier. This is 52% above the number of decisions made during the quarter. The corresponding figure for the same quarter a year earlier was 60%. Taking account of numbers of applications received, decisions made and applications withdrawn during the quarter gives a total of 120,000 as at 31 March 2024, down 14% from the same quarter a year earlier (Live Table P133, PS1 dashboard).
3.5 Historical context
Figure 1 shows that, since about 2009-10, the numbers of applications received, decisions made and applications granted have each followed a similar pattern. As well as the usual within-year pattern of peaks in the Summer (July to September quarter) and troughs in the Autumn and Winter (October to December and January to March quarters), there was a clear downward trend during the 2008 economic downturn, followed by a period of stability. There was a large dip in 2020 following the start of the pandemic and a subsequent recovery in early 2021, including a particular peak in applications received, but since the peak there has been a steep downward trend.
Figure 1: Number of planning applications received, decided and granted (thousands)
England, quarter ending June 2005 to quarter ending March 2024
Historical figures for all district level decisions dating back to 2013-14 are set out in Live Table P120, with separate breakdowns for residential and commercial decisions being shown in Live Tables P120A and P120B respectively. These latter two tables are discussed below in the sections on residential and commercial decisions. Alternatively an extended time series is available within the Dashboard and the full time series is available within the PS1 and PS2 open data tables. Revisions are made to the figures submitted by local authorities but are generally very small[footnote 2].
3.6 Regional breakdowns
Table 1 shows how numbers of applications received, decisions made and decisions granted varied by region. It also shows how the percentage of decisions granted varies widely by region, from 80% in London to 91% in North East (Live Table P133, PS1/PS2 Dashboard).
Table 1: Regional breakdown of applications and decisions
Quarter ending March 2024:
| Number of applications received | Number of applications decided | Number of applications granted | Percentage of decisions granted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 85,800 | 79,100 | 67,400 | 85 |
| East Midlands | 6,600 | 6,000 | 5,300 | 87 |
| East of England | 10,900 | 10,300 | 8,600 | 83 |
| London | 14,600 | 13,200 | 10,500 | 80 |
| National Parks | 1,600 | 1,500 | 1,300 | 89 |
| North East | 2,400 | 2,200 | 2,000 | 91 |
| North West | 8,400 | 7,700 | 6,700 | 87 |
| South East | 16,700 | 15,200 | 13,100 | 87 |
| South West | 10,900 | 10,400 | 9,200 | 88 |
| West Midlands | 7,100 | 6,500 | 5,500 | 85 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 6,600 | 6,100 | 5,200 | 86 |
Table 2 like Table 1 shows how numbers of applications received, and planning decisions made, varied by region. It also shows the percentage change in number of applications received and decided compared to the same quarter a year earlier. The percentage change in the number of applications received varies widely by region, from -14% in East of England to -7% in North East and North West (PS1 Dashboard).
Table 2: Regional breakdown of changes in applications received and decided
Quarter ending March 2024 compared to the quarter ending March 2023:
| Number of applications received | Percentage change from previous year | Number of applications decided | Percentage change from previous year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 85,800 | -11 | 79,100 | -9 |
| East Midlands | 6,600 | -9 | 6,000 | -11 |
| East of England | 10,900 | -14 | 10,300 | -10 |
| London | 14,600 | -9 | 13,200 | -9 |
| National Parks | 1,600 | -12 | 1,500 | 4 |
| North East | 2,400 | -7 | 2,200 | -3 |
| North West | 8,400 | -7 | 7,700 | -11 |
| South East | 16,700 | -12 | 15,200 | -11 |
| South West | 10,900 | -10 | 10,400 | -3 |
| West Midlands | 7,100 | -10 | 6,500 | -14 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 6,600 | -12 | 6,100 | -10 |
3.7 Decisions granted
Figure 2 summarises the distribution of the percentage of decisions granted across authorities for major, minor and other developments using box and whisker plots. The ends of the box are the upper and lower quartiles, meaning that 50% of local authorities fall within this range, with the horizontal line in the centre of the box representing the median. The whiskers are the two lines above and below the box that are 1.5 times the size of the box (the interquartile range) with the dots representing outliers. Figure 2 shows that the range between the whiskers for the percentage of applications granted is widest between authorities for major developments (40% to 100%), followed by minor developments (52% to 100%) and other developments (70% to 100%) (PS2 Dashboard).
Figure 2: Percentage of planning decisions granted, by type of development
Local planning authorities, quarter ending March 2024
3.8 Speed of decisions
In January to March 2024, 90% of major applications were decided within 13 weeks or within the agreed time, up 1 percentage point from the same quarter a year earlier. 19% of major applications were decided within the statutory time period of 13 weeks, unchanged from the same quarter a year earlier.
In the same quarter, 87% of minor applications were decided within 8 weeks or within the agreed time, up 4 percentage points from the same quarter a year earlier. 38% of minor applications were decided within the statutory time period of 8 weeks, up 3 percentage points from the same quarter a year earlier.
Also in the same quarter, 90% of other applications were decided within 8 weeks or within the agreed time, up 2 percentage points from the same quarter a year earlier. 55% of other applications were decided within the statutory time period of 8 weeks, up 5 percentage points from the same quarter a year earlier.
For more information on major, minor and other developments please see the PS1 and PS2 district planning matter guidance notes.
Figure 3 shows that the range between the whiskers for the percentage of decisions made in time this quarter for major developments was 69% to 100%, for minor developments it was 66% to 100% and for other developments it was 75% to 100% (PS2 Dashboard).
Figure 3: Percentage of planning decisions made in time, by type of development
Local planning authorities, quarter ending March 2024
3.9 Use of performance agreements
‘Performance agreement’ is an umbrella term used here to refer to Planning Performance Agreements, Extensions of Time and Environmental Impact Assessments. Between January to March 2024, 44% of all planning application decisions involved a performance agreement. Major developments were more likely to involve a performance agreement compared to minor and other developments with 77% of major decisions involving a planning agreement, compared with 54% of minor decisions and 38% of other decisions (Reference Table 2, PS2 Dashboard).
Figure 4 shows, from April 2010, the numbers of decisions on major, minor and other developments made involving a performance agreement, compared with numbers without a performance agreement. Notwithstanding definition changes, there has been a marked increase in the use of agreements since early 2013 (see Technical Notes for more information). This longer upward trend has been driven by both the additional scope for recording them and their additional use (Live Table P120, PS2 Dashboard).
Figure 4: Use of performance agreements with applications for major, minor and other developments
England, quarter ending June 2010 to quarter ending March 2024
Figure 5 shows that in the quarter to March 2024, 92% of major development decisions involving performance agreements were made on time. In comparison, 83% of major decisions not involving performance agreements were made within the statutory time limit of 13 weeks (see Reference Table 2, PS2 Dashboard).
Figure 5: Percentage of major, minor and other development decisions made in time
England, quarter ending June 2014 to quarter ending March 2024
3.10 Performance of individual district level local planning authorities
The existing approach to measuring the performance of authorities was introduced by the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 and is based on assessing local planning authorities’ performance on the speed and quality of their decisions on applications for major and non-major development. Where an authority is formally designated by the Secretary of State as underperforming, applicants have had the option of submitting their applications for major and non-major development (and connected applications) directly to the Planning Inspectorate (who act on behalf of the Secretary of State) for determination. See Improving planning performance: criteria for designation for more information.
Speed of decisions
The designation thresholds, below which a local planning authority is eligible for designation are:
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For applications for major development: less than 60% of an authority’s decisions made within the statutory determination period or such extended period as has been agreed in writing with the applicant;
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For applications for non-major development: less than 70% of an authority’s decisions made within the statutory determination period or such extended period as has been agreed in writing with the applicant.
See Live Tables P151/P153
Quality of decisions
The threshold for designation on applications for both major and non-major development, above which a local planning authority is at risk of designation, is 10% of an authority’s total number of decisions on applications made during the assessment period being overturned at appeal.
Once the figures for the relevant period have been published in Live Table P152 or P154, which identify local planning authorities are at risk of designation by exceeding the threshold, they are invited to contact Departmental officials with any data corrections, and information on any exceptional circumstances applying to the authority that might be used as reasons why the Secretary of State should not designate them. The Secretary of State then takes this evidence into account when making decisions on which authorities should be designated.
See Live Tables P152/P154
Five local planning authorities are currently designated by the Secretary of State in relation to their planning performance. These are Uttlesford District Council (on 8th February 2022), Chorley Council (on 19th December 2023) and Lewes District Council (on 8th May 2024) in relation to quality of decision-making for major applications; and St Albans City and District Council on 6th March 2024) and Bristol City Council (on 6th March 2024) in relation to speed of decision-making for non-major applications.
3.11 Residential decisions
In January to March 2024, 11,200 decisions were made on applications for residential developments[footnote 3], of which 7,800 (70%) were granted. The number of residential decisions made was down 4% from the same quarter a year earlier, with the number granted down 7% from the same quarter a year earlier. 900 major residential decisions were granted, down 11% from the same quarter a year earlier and 6,900 major residential decisions were granted, down 6% from the same quarter a year earlier (Live Table P120A, PS2 Dashboard).
In the year ending March 2024, 45,000 decisions were made on applications for residential developments, of which 32,000 (71%) were granted. The number of residential decisions made was down 6% from the previous year, with the number granted down 8% from the year ending March 2023. 3,700 major residential decisions were granted, down 12% from the previous year and 28,200 minor residential decisions were granted, down 8% from the previous year.
3.12 Residential units
The figures collected by the Department are the numbers of decisions on planning applications submitted to local planning authorities, rather than the number of units included in each application, such as the number of homes in the case of housing developments. The Department supplements this information by obtaining statistics on housing permissions from a contractor, Glenigan[footnote 4].
The latest provisional figures show that permission for 236,000 homes was given in the year to March 2024, down 13% from the 270,000 homes granted permission in the year to March 2023. On an ongoing basis, figures are revised to ensure that any duplicates are removed as far as possible, and also to include any projects that local planning authorities may not have processed: they are therefore subject to change, and the latest quarter’s provisional figures tend to be revised upwards. For the previous eight quarters, the year to figures have been revised upwards by 2% on average. These figures are provided here to give contextual information to users and have not been designated as National Statistics.
Table 3: Number of housing units granted planning permission
England, up to the year ending March 2024
| Rolling annual total to | Number of units granted | Percentage change from prior year |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 Q1 | 168,000 | NA |
| 2010 Q1 | 151,000 | -10 |
| 2011 Q1 | 165,000 | 9 |
| 2012 Q1 | 180,000 | 9 |
| 2013 Q1 | 175,000 | -2 |
| 2014 Q1 | 212,000 | 21 |
| 2015 Q1 | 241,000 | 13 |
| 2016 Q1 | 270,000 | 12 |
| 2017 Q1 | 329,000 | 22 |
| 2018 Q1 | 314,000 | -4 |
| 2019 Q1 | 327,000 | 4 |
| 2020 Q1 | 315,000 | -4 |
| 2021 Q1 | 310,000 | -2 |
| 2022 Q1 | 302,000 | -3 |
| 2023 Q1 | 270,000 | -11 |
| 2024 Q1 | 236,000 | -13 |
Source: Glenigan planning permission data: snapshot as at 23 May 2024.
The figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
Figure 6: Number of housing units granted planning permission
England, year ending June 2009 to year ending March 2024
Table 4: Numbers of housing units granted permission in the year to March 2024: by size and number of projects
England, up to the year ending March 2024
| Site size | Number of units granted | % of total number of units | Number of projects | % of total number of projects |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Unit | 4,100 | 2 | 4,100 | 40 |
| 2 Units | 1,600 | 1 | 800 | 8 |
| 3-5 Units | 8,200 | 3 | 2,200 | 21 |
| 6-9 Units | 8,100 | 3 | 1,100 | 10 |
| 9 units or less | 22,000 | 9 | 8,200 | 79 |
| 10 Units | 1,100 | 0 | 100 | 1 |
| 11-49 Units | 24,900 | 11 | 1,000 | 10 |
| 50-99 Units | 26,500 | 11 | 400 | 4 |
| 100-149 Units | 25,500 | 11 | 200 | 2 |
| 150-199 Units | 21,300 | 9 | 100 | 1 |
| 200-499 Units | 76,300 | 32 | 300 | 3 |
| 500+ Units | 38,600 | 16 | 100 | 1 |
| 10 units or more | 214,200 | 91 | 2,100 | 21 |
| Grand Total | 236,200 | 100 | 10,300 | 100 |
Note: The figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
Table 5: Housing units granted permission in the year to March 2024: by region
England, up to the year ending March 2024
| Region | Units granted, (rounded to nearest 100) | % of England total |
|---|---|---|
| England | 236,200 | 100 |
| East Midlands | 21,500 | 9 |
| East of England | 26,400 | 11 |
| London | 43,100 | 18 |
| National Parks | 800 | 0 |
| North East | 9,800 | 4 |
| North West | 26,500 | 11 |
| South East | 40,900 | 17 |
| South West | 22,500 | 10 |
| West Midlands | 23,100 | 10 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 21,500 | 9 |
When considering the above figures in relation to the central government ambition of raising housing supply to 300,000 homes per year on average by the mid-2020s, it should be noted that many permissions do not result in a home being delivered in practice. This is due to a range of reasons, relating to the circumstances of landowners and developers, as well as the local and national economy. In addition, i) time lags in building can affect the number of homes built in a particular period; and ii) the methodology used cannot guarantee that all double counting of permissions is removed from the above figures.
In comparing the number of residential applications granted and the number of units granted, it should be noted that the two series measure different things and use data from different sources, and so may not track each other closely over the short term. More specifically, this difference is likely to be due to a combination of differences in the timing of recorded decisions and a difference in the average numbers of homes included within the relevant planning applications.
3.13 Commercial decisions
In January to March 2024, 1,900 decisions were made on applications for commercial developments[footnote 5], of which 1,600 (88%) were granted. The number of commercial decisions made was down 5% from the same quarter a year earlier, with the number granted down 4% from the same quarter a year earlier. 400 major commercial decisions were granted, down 6% from the same quarter a year earlier and 1,300 minor commercial decisions were granted, down 4% from the same quarter a year earlier (Live Table P120B, PS2 Dashboard).
In the year ending March 2024, 7,700 decisions were made on applications for commercial developments, of which 6,800 (88%) were granted. The number of commercial decisions made was down 5% from the previous year, with the number granted down 6% from the year ending March 2023. 1,500 major commercial decisions were granted, down 6% from the previous year and 5,300 minor commercial decisions were granted, down 6% from the previous year.
3.14 Trends in the percentage of residential and commercial applications
Figure 7: Number of planning applications decided by district authorities, by type of development
England, quarter ending March 2000 to quarter ending March 2024
3.15 Householder developments
Householder developments are those developments to a residence which require planning permission such as extensions, loft conversions and conservatories (see Definitions section of the Technical Notes).
The number of decisions made on householder developments was 39,800 in the quarter ending March 2024, accounting for 50% of all decisions, down from 53% of all decisions made in the quarter ending March 2023. Authorities granted 88% of these applications and decided 92% within eight weeks or the agreed time (Reference Table 2, PS2 Dashboard).
In the year ending March 2024, 173,300 decisions were made on applications for householder developments, accounting for 52% of all decisions, down from 56% of all decisions made in the year ending March 2023. Authorities granted 89% of these applications and decided 91% within eight weeks or the agreed time.
3.16 Major public service infrastructure development decisions
Since August 2021, major public service infrastructure developments broadly defined as major developments for schools, hospitals and criminal justice accommodation have been subject to an accelerated decision-making timetable.
Separate figures on major public service infrastructure development decisions have been collected on the quarterly PS2 return with effect from October 2021. During January to March 2024 there were 23 decisions, of which 22 were granted and 21 were decided in time (Live Table MJPSI – for the latest quarter only - PS2 Dashboard and PS2 open data table). Please note that figures are not collected on the CPS1/2 return and so don’t include education developments by county councils.
3.17 Permission in Principle/Technical Details consent decisions
Since April 2017, local planning authorities have had the ability to grant permission in principle (PiP) to sites which have been entered on their brownfield land registers. Where sites have a grant of permission in principle, applicants have been able to submit an application for Technical Details Consent (TDC) for development on these sites. In addition, since June 2018, it has also been possible to make an application for PiP for minor housing-led development as a separate application, independently of the brownfield register. Where a site has been granted PiP following an application, it is possible to apply for a TDC.
Figures on PiP/TDC decisions have been collected on the quarterly PS2 return from January 2020. During January to March 2024, local planning authorities reported 148 PiP (minor housing-led developments) decisions, 17 TDC (minor housing-led developments) decisions and 2 TDC (major developments) decisions. The totals for the previous quarters have been similar although there has been a slow upward trend since 2020, when there were about 60 PiP decisions per quarter (Live Table PiP/TDC1 – for the latest quarter only - PS2 dashboard and PS2 open data table).
3.18 Permitted development rights
Planning permission for some types of development has been granted nationally through legislation, and the resulting rights are known as ‘permitted development rights’ (PDRs). For certain permitted development rights, if the legislation is complied with, developments can go ahead without the requirement to notify the local planning authority. Hence no way of capturing this data exists and these are not accounted for in this report. In other cases, the permitted development right legislation requires an application to the local planning authority to determine whether or not prior approval is required and to determine as appropriate (see the Definitions section of the Technical Notes).
Between January to March 2024, 5,300 applications were reported, of which prior approval was not required for 2,700, permission was granted for 1,500, and 1,100 were refused. This resulted in an overall acceptance rate[footnote 6] of 80%. Large householder extension accounted for 56% of all PDR applications reported, with 27% relating to All others, 7% relating to Agricultural to residential, and 6% relating to Commercial Business and service to residential (Live Tables PDR1/PDR2).
In the quarter to March 2024, 800 permitted development right applications were made for changes to residential use, of which 500 (65%) were given the go-ahead without having to go through the full planning process.
Overall during the 40 quarters ending March 2024, district planning authorities reported 330,100 applications for prior approvals for permitted developments. For 184,900 of them prior approval was not required, 77,200 were granted and 68,000 were refused (Live Table PDR2).
Figure 8: Permitted development rights decided by district planning authorities
England, quarter ending June 2014 to year ending March 2024
Please note, different rights have come to into force and ceased to have effect since 2014, and therefore the annual figures are not directly comparable. See Live Table PDR1 and PDR2 for more information.
3.19 Other information
England totals for all the items of information collected on the PS1 and PS2 returns for January to March 2024 are given in Reference Tables 1 and 2 respectively. These include the following, for which definitions are given in the Definitions section of the Technical Notes:
Delegated decisions
Of the 79,100 decisions made during the quarter, 76,000 (96%) were delegated to officers. This percentage has been stable since 2014, having previously increased from around 75% in 2000 (Live Table P133).
Enforcement activity
During the quarter, authorities issued 994 enforcement notices and served 1,080 planning contravention notices, 159 breach of condition notices, 20 stop notices and 26 temporary stop notices, while 5 enforcement injunctions were granted by the High/County Court and 0 injunctive applications were refused. In recent years, this level of activity has remained broadly proportionate to the number of planning decisions made (Live Table P127).
Regulation 3 and 4 decisions
309 ‘Regulation 3’ and 54 ‘Regulation 4’ decisions were made. Relative to the number of planning decisions made in recent years, numbers of ‘Regulation 3’ decisions have dropped and those for ‘Regulation 4’ have remained stable (Live Table P128).
Traveller pitches
During the quarter, authorities decided 13 major applications for traveller pitches, granting 4 of them, and deciding 10 of them within 13 weeks or the agreed time.
They also decided 69 minor applications for traveller pitches, granting 33 of them and deciding 47 of them within eight weeks or the agreed time.
For both major and minor applications for traveller pitches, the numbers of decisions, and percentages of applications granted and decided on time, have remained broadly stable since figures were first collected in 2008 (Live Table P137, PS2 Dashboard).
4. Authorities undertaking county level planning
Authorities that undertake county level planning activity include counties, unitary authorities, London boroughs, metropolitan districts, national parks and development corporations. ‘County matter’ applications include the winning and working of minerals and the deposit of waste. In the year to March 2024 county planning authorities received 747 applications, compared to the 350,800 applications received by district planning authorities.
Between January to March 2024, county level planning authorities in England:
- received 163 applications for planning permission, down 24% from the same quarter a year earlier;
- decided 177 applications for planning permission, up 30% from the same quarter a year earlier;
- granted 163 decisions, up 31% from the same quarter a year earlier. This is equivalent to 92% of decisions, up 1 percentage point from the same quarter a year earlier; and
- decided 95% of applications within 13 weeks or the agreed time, unchanged from the same quarter a year earlier.
4.1 Planning decisions
Waste developments accounted for 51% of the total decisions, mineral developments for 40% and other developments for 9% (CPS2 Dashboard).
4.2 Permitted development rights
Between January to March 2024, 12 applications were reported, of which prior approval was not required for 4, permission was granted for 7, and 1 were refused. This resulted in an overall acceptance rate of 92% (Live Table PDR3, CPS1 Dashboard).
4.3 Other information
England totals for all the items of information collected on the CPS1 return for January to March 2024 are given in Reference Table 3. These include the following, for which definitions are given in the Definitions section of the Technical Notes:
Delegated decisions
Of the 177 decisions made during the quarter, 127 (72%) were delegated to officers. This percentage has been stable since 2014 in recent years (CPS1 Dashboard).
Enforcement activity
During the quarter, authorities issued 4 enforcement notices and served 22 planning contravention notices, 9 breach of condition notices, 0 stop notices and 5 temporary stop notices, while 0 enforcement injunctions were granted by the High/County Court and 0 injunctive application were refused. In recent years, this level of activity has remained broadly proportionate to the number of planning decisions made (CPS1 Dashboard).
Regulation 3 and 4 decisions
92 ‘Regulation 3’ and 0 ‘Regulation 4’ decisions were made. Relative to the number of planning decisions made in recent years, numbers of ‘Regulation 3’ decisions have dropped and those for ‘Regulation 4’ have remained stable (CPS1 Dashboard).
4.4 Performance of individual county level local planning authorities
Speed of decisions
The designation thresholds, below which a local planning authority is eligible for designation are:
- For applications for major development: less than 60% of an authority’s decisions made within the statutory determination period or such extended period as has been agreed in writing with the applicant;
See Live Tables P151 (all developments) and P155 (oil/gas developments)
Quality of decisions
The threshold for designation on applications above which a local planning authority is eligible for designation, is 10% of an authority’s total number of decisions on applications made during the assessment period being overturned at appeal.
See Live Table P152
See Improving planning performance: criteria for designation for more information.
5. Accompanying tables and open data
Accompanying tables are available to download alongside this release.
For the first time, this includes a local authority level Planning Performance dashboard table, with district and county matters sheets, an earlier version of which was published as an ad hoc release on 6 March 2024 to allow for user feedback prior to its first formal publication alongside this release. It will subsequently be updated each quarter.
An interactive dashboard comprising data from the PS1/2 and CPS1/2 returns is also available on the planning application statistics landing page.
PS1/2 open data (.csv files)
- Two files of PS1 data (.csv files) are available, with one holding data for the four most recent quarters only and the other holding data back to Q2 1996.
- Similarly, two files of PS2 data (.csv files) are available, with one holding data for the four most recent quarters only and the other holding data back to Q2 1979.
Open data tables and supporting documents
CPS1/2 open data (.csv files)
- Two files of CPS1 data (.csv files) are available, with one holding data for the four most recent quarters only and the other holding data back to Q2 1995.
- In addition, two files of CPS2 data (.csv files) are available, with one holding data for the four most recent quarters only and the other holding data back to Q2 1989.
Open data tables and supporting documents
6. Technical Notes
Please see the accompanying Technical Notes document for further details of definitions, related statistics and other technical details.
Please see the glossary of terms and definitions used in DLUHC housing statistical publications and English Housing Survey reports.
Information on the UK Statistical System is available via the UK Statistics Authority website: https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/
Information about statistics at Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is available via the Department’s website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities/about/statistics
7. Enquiries
Date of next release: September 2024
Media enquiries: 0303 444 1209 [email protected]
Public enquiries and responsible statistician: Andrew Presland
Email: [email protected]
Information on Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.
Information about statistics at DLUHC is available via the Department’s website.
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Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing [email protected] or via the OSR website.
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The three exceptions are the permissions totals provided by Glenigan Ltd (rounded to the nearest 1,000 due to the relative turbulence of the figures), numbers of projects by region provided by Glenigan Ltd (rounded to the nearest ten because some numbers are very low) and the enforcement actions towards the end of the section (unrounded, because some numbers are very low). ↩
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The largest revisions made this quarter to an England total for October to December 2023 was an increase of 949 (0.7%) in the number of applications on hand at the start of the quarter. This was mostly due to a PS1 return being submitted for the quarter by a local planning authority that had not previously done so. ↩
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‘Residential’ is used in this release to refer only to developments involving the construction or conversion of dwellings, rather than also including other developments involving people’s homes, such as householder developments and some changes of use. ↩
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Glenigan routinely collects data on planning applications submitted to all English local planning authorities and records the information by maintaining a ‘planning application’ for every project. The data have been updated over time as subsequent applications are submitted and decisions made, with all new applications being matched against the existing database at entry stage. This has involved an automated process supplemented by manual checking to identify any further matching projects. More details are given in the Definitions section of the Technical Notes. ↩
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Commercial developments are defined in this release as: ‘Offices, research and development, light industry’, ’General industry, storage, warehousing’ and ‘Retail and service’. ↩
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The acceptance rate is defined as the number of applications for which prior approval was not required, or for which permission was granted, as a percentage of the total number of applications. ↩