Planning applications decided by district level planning authority and speed of decision

Planning authorities' planning applications and decisions, type of authority, speed of decision, type and size of development, enforcement action, regulation 3 and 4 consents, applications for determination, percentage of decisions granted, decisions within 8 weeks and delegated, planning decisions on major and minor residential development, 'County Matter', enforcement action by county planning authorities, planning decisions on Gypsy and Traveller pitches developments.

Planning authorities' planning applications and decisions, type of authority, speed of decision, type and size of development, enforcement action, regulation 3 and 4 consents, applications for determination, percentage of decisions granted, decisions within 8 weeks and delegated, planning decisions on major and minor residential development, 'County Matter', enforcement action by county planning authorities, planning decisions on Gypsy and Traveller pitches developments.

Planning applications decided by district level planning authority and type of development

District level planning is undertaken by metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts, unitary authorities, national park authorities and urban development corporations. These authorities deal with all other planning applications that are not classified as county matters and mainly include applications for planning permissions on residential, offices, industrial, retail and householder developments.

Largescale Major Developments For dwellings, a largescale major development is one where the number of residential units to be constructed is 200 or more. Where the number of residential units to be constructed is not given in the application a site area of 4 hectares or more should be used as the definition of a largescale major development. For all other uses a largescale major development is one where the floor space to be built is 10,000 square metres or more, or where the site area is 2 hectares or more.

Smallscale Major Developments For dwellings, a smallscale major development is one where the number of residential units to be constructed is between 10 and 199 (inclusive). Where the number of dwellings to be constructed is not given in the application a site area of 0.5 hectare and less than 4 hectares should be used as the definition of a smallscale major development. For all other uses a smallscale major development is one where the floor space to be built is 1,000 square metres and up to 9,999 square metres or where the site area is 1 hectare and less than 2 hectares.

Minor Developments

For dwellings, minor development is one where the number of dwellings to be constructed is between 1 and 9 inclusive. Where the number of dwellings to be constructed is not given in the application, a site area of less than 0.5 hectares should be used as the definition of a minor development. For all other uses, a minor development is one where the floor space to be built is less than 1,000 square metres or where the site area is less than 1 hectare. Decisions are classified as relating to a Major/Minor Development on the basis of the development covered by the application which was decided.

Use categories

Decisions relating to largescale major, smallscale major or minor developments are classified by reference to the principal use within the development (i.e. the use on which other uses are considered to depend). Normally this is the one which accounts for the greater proportion of the new floorspace (although in certain cases the principal use will be one that does not account for any floorspace as such).

If there is any doubt as to the principal use in a multi-storey block the ground floor use is taken as the principal one. (This rule would apply where, for example, the amounts of floorspace taken up by two different uses were approximately equal). Proposed developments are classified on the basis of the principal use and not that of the complex of which they are part. Thus a development involving the construction of offices within the curtilage of a general industrial site would be classified as ‘Offices/Research and Development/Light Industry’. Similarly, a dance-floor extension to a restaurant would be classified as ‘All other minor developments’ and not to ‘Retail, distribution and servicing’.

Change of Use

Many developments involve some change of land use but a decision is only classified as ‘Change of Use’ if: (i) the application does not concern a major development; and (iia) no building or engineering work is involved; or (iib) the building or engineering work would be permitted development were it not for the fact that the development involved a change of use (such as the removal of internal dividing walls in a dwelling house to provide more spacious accommodation for office use).

Householder Developments

Householder developments are defined as those within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse which require an application for planning permission and are not a change of use. Included in householder developments are extensions, conservatories, loft conversions, dormer windows, alterations, garages, car ports or outbuildings, swimming pools, walls, fences, domestic vehicular accesses including footway crossovers, porches and satellite dishes. Excluded from householder developments are: applications relating to any work to one or more flats, applications to change the number of dwellings (flat conversions, building a separate house in the garden), changes of use to part or all of the property to non-residential (including business) uses, or anything outside the garden of the property (including stables if in a separate paddock).

Advertisements

Decisions on applications for consent to display advertisements under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992 (as amended). Listed building consents

Decisions by the district planning authority on: (i)

This Barbour provided dataset contains quarterly permissions for units granted planning permission in England for the given time period. Data are given as a rolling annual average.

Barbour provide DCLG with up to date statistics on planning, construction, and house building across England to help provide better quality analysis for evidence based policy making under a contract (secured through open tender). The monthly and quarterly permissions are all the projects and units granted planning permission in England for the given time period.

Assumptions

• Permissions are broken down by size: ‘major’ and ‘minor’ with ‘minor’ being any project with fewer than 10 units.

• Permissions are only counted if the project has reserved matters or detailed plans granted by the relevant authority. Outline Plans granted are not included.

• All residential categories are included except elderly person’s homes, hostels, student accommodation and any project with ‘holiday’ in its heading.

• Developments only where there is an element of ‘New Build’ or a conversion into residential.

• The totals are for England only

The figures exclude any re-permission awarded less than 1 year after any previous permission on a site.

This dataset differs from DCLG collected data on planning decisions. The figures collected by the Department are numbers of planning applications submitted to local planning authorities rather than the number of units included in each application.

This dataset includes information on the planning applications referable to the Mayor between January 2011 - December 2022. Planning applications included within this dataset are those that were considered by the Mayor at stage 2 and stage 3 between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2022.

Information such as number of residential units, affordable housing provision, number of storeys and the Mayoral decision have been recorded for each application.

The data has been compiled manually and may be subject to human error, although efforts have been taken to verify information and reduce inaccuracies. If you do have any concerns and/or queries relating to any aspect of the data provided, please get in touch with planningsupport@london.gov.uk.

This file was updated to include data to 31st December 2022 on 18 August 2023. An amended version was uploaded on 16 April 2024.

The number of planning applications granted as a percentage of all major and minor schemes

How the figure is calculated:

The number of planning applications for major or minor schemes granted within the reporting period; divided by the total number of planning applications for major or minor schemes on which a decision was made within the same period; multiplied by 100.

A major development is one where the number of residential dwelling units to be constructed is 10 or more, or where the number of residential units is not given then the site area is 0.5 hectares or more. For all other uses a major development is one where the floor space to be built is 1,000 square metres or more, or where the site area is 1 hectare or more.

For dwellings, minor development is one where the number of dwellings to be constructed is between 1 and 9 inclusive, or where the site area is less than 0.5 hectares. For all other uses, a minor development is one where the floor space to be built is less than 1,000 square metres or where the site area is less than 1 hectare.

Other Developments include: * Minerals e.g. Mineral handling installations, bricks/pottery manufacture, pipelines, conveyors * Change of use (outside of major and minor developments), or permitted developments with change of use. * Householder developments within the curtilage of residential e.g. extensions, alterations, garages, swimming pools, walls, fences, vehicular accesses, porches and satellite dishes. * Advertisement displays * Listed building consents (to alter/extend/demolish) * Certificates of lawful development * Notifications

Why is this indicator in the business plan?

This provides a proxy measure for the impact of the planning measures in the Growth Review. It covers the types of development that are most closely associated with growth.

How often is it updated?

Quarterly

Where does the data come from?

PSF returns from planning authorities. Published figures are in Table P131 at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics.

What area does the headline figure cover?

England

Are further breakdowns of the data available?

By local planning authority

What does a change in this indicator show?

A change in this indicator would show a change in the overall level of approvals. We would not expect this to reach 100% as this would indicate all applications being accepted. A high and consistent approval rate would indicate good performance.

Time Lag

Published within three months of the end of the reporting period.

Next available update

June 2015.

Type of Data

National Statistics

Robustness and data limitations

The returns submitted by local planning authorities undergo thorough validation and checks. Inconsistent data highlighted during validation and checks are verified by contacting the local authority. Late returns are pursued to ensure the overall response rate is as high as possible. Where a response rate of 100% is not achieved estimates are imputed for non-responding authorities.

Imputation is carried out for non-responding authorities and is calculated using historical information. The process is carried out within groups of authorities which are categorised by their location. The imputed estimates are aggregated together with information from those authorities who responded to calculate the England level information.

Links to Further Information

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/planning-applications-statistics

Contact Details

CorporatePerformance@communities.gsi.gov.uk

Guidance, criteria and forms for Householder Planning Applications can be found below. The Householder Application for Works or Extension to a Dwelling form should be used for proposals to alter or enlarge a single house, including works within the curtilage (boundary/garden) of a house. If you have established that you need planning permission you should use the Householder Application form for projects such as:

• extensions
• conservatories
• loft conversions
• dormer windows
• alterations
• garages, car ports or outbuildings
• swimming pools
• walls
• fences
• vehicular access including footway crossovers
• porches
• satellite dishes

You should use the application form for Full Planning Permission and not the Householder Application form if your application relates to any of the following:

• any works relating to a flat
• applications to change the number of dwellings (flat conversions, building a separate house in the garden)
• changes of use to part or all of the property to non-residential (including business) uses
• anything outside the garden of the property (including stables if in a separate paddock)

Planning applications decided by district level planning authority and type of development

This indicator measures the percentage of planning applications dealt with in a timely manner: major, minor and other. All local planning authorities except county councils should use CLG form PS2 for supplying information on the planning applications determined. A timely manner is defined as within 13 weeks for Major applications and within 8 weeks for Minor and Other applications. Subject to the outcome of the recent consultation paper applications that are part of a Planning Performance Agreement and the timetable agreed with developers is adhered to will be excluded from the calculations. Source: Communities and Local Government (CLG) Publisher: DCLG Floor Targets Interactive Geographies: Local Authority District (LAD), County/Unitary Authority, Government Office Region (GOR), National Geographic coverage: England Time coverage: 2006 to 2009/10 Type of data: Administrative data

This dataset is published as Open Data.Please also note the dataset contains a number of duplicated polygons that share the same geometries but different values. This dataset should therefore be used with these caveats in mind.Development plans set out the long term vision for where development should and shouldn’t happen in the places they cover. The local development plan is the principal land use planning document used in assessing applications for planning permission, based upon national, regional and local policies and proposals. It is the most significant material consideration in determining such applications and reference to the local development plan is essential for most types of proposed development. The main spatial element is typically the policies and proposals map, which is created from the data that is also used in this dataset. Some policies will be plan-wide, and not reproduced spatially, so this dataset contains policy data that is linked to a discrete area within the planning authority area.Update and reference to other datasetsThis dataset will be updated as and when development plans are replaced and formally adopted by authorities, on a minimum quarterly basis in operational terms each year. Local development plans are currently replaced on a five year basis and will be further modified by the forthcoming Planning Act, likely moving to a ten year cycle with interim updates, although it is not yet clear on how updates will be prepared.This dataset should be used in conjunction with other planning related datasets available, notably planning applications, conservation areas, housing land and employment land. There may be some duplication with related layers, due to the ways that particular authorities may share data, and this will be resolved on a layer-by-layer basis as this dataset (and others) are developed. This is also true for some national datasets, such as statutory designations for natural heritage: these typically originate with other agencies although they are often published as part of a local development plan. This will also be resolved, in data architecture terms, through dialogue with these key agencies.

An Article 4 Direction removes certain permitted development rights, meaning that planning permission from the council is required for specific building works and changes of use that would normally not need an application under national planning legislation.The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has two Article 4 directions operational in its boundaries. An Article 4 direction was confirmed to remove permitted development right for changes of use from residential dwellings (C3 use class) to small houses in multiple occupation (C4 use class). This was approved by the Mayor in Cabinet on 29 January 2020 and came into force on 1 January 2021. This direction applies to the whole of the borough. You can review the notice of confirmation here: https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Strategic-Planning/HMOsArticle4Direction.pdfThis dataset is called: “LBTH Article 4 Direction Residential to HMO” The second direction, confirmed an Article 4 direction to remove permitted development rights for changes of use from Class E uses to Residential (Class C3) uses in certain parts of the borough. This was approved by the Mayor in Cabinet on 1st August 2022 subject an amendment given by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 14th June 2023 . You can review the notice of confirmation here: https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Strategic-Planning/Notice-of-Confirmation.pdfThis dataset is called: “LBTH Article 4 Direction Class E to Residential”

Are residential landlords in the United Kingdom (UK) who have a mortgage and face rent problems as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the lockdown planning to apply for mortgage holiday? As of the beginning of May 2020, approximately 15.5 percent of the landlords with arrears have filed an application and almost 14 percent have been approved. Over 62 percent of the landlords impacted are not planning to apply for holiday at all.

The following dataset shows the number and type of planning applications taken by the Leeds Authority and the time taken.

District level planning is undertaken by metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts, unitary authorities, national park authorities and urban development corporations. These authorities deal with all other planning applications that are not classified as county matters and mainly include applications for planning permissions on residential, offices, industrial, retail and householder developments.

Coverage period is a rolling yearly period - starting from 1st September 2012 and ending 30th September 2013; then for a 12 month period from 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013; and finally from 1st April 2013 until 31st March 2014.

Addtional Information

• This data is available for download as an Excel Spreadsheet (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/321770/TableP132.xls)
• The original open data source can be found on the DCLG Open Data Site - (http://opendatacommunities.org/data/planning/performance/percentage-of-decisions)

A Countryside Policy Boundary (CPB) is a planning designation used by local authorities to define the limits of built-up areas and control development in the countryside. It is typically drawn around settlements to distinguish between urban or village areas where development is generally acceptable and rural areas where stricter planning controls apply.Purpose of a Countryside Policy BoundaryPrevent Urban Sprawl – Helps manage the spread of settlements and protects rural areas from unplanned development.Protect the Countryside – Ensures open spaces, landscapes, and agricultural land are safeguarded from inappropriate development.Focus Development in Sustainable Locations – Encourages new housing, infrastructure, and businesses within defined settlement areas rather than scattered rural development.Support Rural Character – Maintains the distinct identity of rural communities by preventing settlements from merging.Development Within & Outside CPBsInside the Boundary: Development is generally supported if it aligns with the Local Plan (e.g., housing, businesses, and infrastructure).Outside the Boundary: Strict planning controls apply, meaning new development is usually restricted unless it serves rural purposes, such as agriculture, forestry, or essential infrastructure. Some exceptions may include rural exception housing, tourism-related development, or re-use of existing buildings.Difference Between CPB and Green BeltA CPB is a local planning tool specific to certain settlements, whereas the Green Belt is a national designation aimed at preventing urban expansion over a much wider area.