Planning applications: January 2008 - March 2008, England

The latest national statistics on planning applications were released under the auspices of the UK Statistics Authority on 27 June 2008.

This release presents quarterly statistics on local planning authorities in England. It covers information on planning applications received and decided including decisions on applications for residential developments (dwellings) and enforcement activities. These are provided at national, regional and local authority level.

The statistics in this release are based on information for the March quarter 2008 reported to Communities and Local Government as at 30 May 2008 and update those previously released on 28 March 2008.

Key points from the latest release are:

In the March quarter 2008:

Nationally, authorities that undertake district level planning activity saw a decrease of 3 per cent in the proportion of applications decided when compared with the same quarter a year ago. However, applications determined in London increased by 5 per cent and National Park Authorities by 27 per cent.
Decisions on planning applications for residential developments (dwellings) increased by 3 per cent in the March quarter. However, the proportion of applications granted remained unchanged when compared with the corresponding quarter last year.
76 per cent of all authorities that undertake district level planning activity made at least 60 per cent of major decisions within the 13 week period; a decrease of 5 percentage points compared with the same quarter a year ago and the lowest since the June quarter 2006.

In the year-ending March 2008:

Authorities that undertake county level planning determined 1,496 applications; the lowest since 2000/2001. However, 93 per cent of these applications were granted; the highest proportion to date.

The full Planning Applications Statistical Release and the accompanying tables are available below: