Most Planning Applications by Council

Which UK councils receive the most planning applications? Total application volumes ranked over the last 24 months.

Councils Ranked

200

Total Applications

436,843

Highest Volume

9,449

Top Council

Cornwall

Most Planning Applications by Council
#	Council	Total Apps	Approved	Refused	Pending
1	Cornwall	9,449	1,318	262	6,788
2	Buckinghamshire	6,779	866	411	5,467
3	Leeds	6,632	3,520	653	2,354
4	Dorset	6,445	3,648	282	2,327
5	Westminster	6,279	1,189	161	4,871
6	Wiltshire	5,991	1,497	133	4,184
7	Richmond	5,567	3,147	445	1,880
8	Herefordshire	5,462	2,898	175	2,213
9	Barnet	5,280	942	334	3,903
10	BCP	4,987	2,386	305	2,204
11	Birmingham	4,347	1,368	426	2,416
12	Bristol	4,252	1,050	202	2,925
13	Ealing	4,250	1,438	333	2,385
14	Bromley	4,188	2,225	515	1,416
15	Kirklees	4,048	1,023	218	2,753
16	South Cambridgeshire	3,839	1,497	84	2,141
17	South Downs	3,839	1,592	107	2,048
18	Southwark	3,796	1,022	45	2,693
19	Mid Kent	3,757	1,619	222	1,849
20	West Northamptonshire	3,627	2,018	165	1,362
21	Babergh Mid Suffolk	3,617	1,920	136	1,478
22	Bradford	3,579	1,477	280	1,794
23	Bath	3,554	1,450	69	1,954
24	Manchester	3,526	2,047	381	989
25	Croydon	3,344	1,798	392	1,119
26	Lewisham	3,300	1,778	274	1,047
27	Belfast	3,227	1,846	61	1,255
28	Camden	3,169	734	43	2,355
29	Redbridge	3,028	757	289	1,956
30	Brent	3,017	1,926	409	643
31	St Albans	2,976	757	248	1,891
32	Cambridge	2,956	1,042	90	1,759
33	Mole Valley	2,921	1,265	453	1,130
34	Edinburgh	2,900	532	237	2,104
35	Enfield	2,852	634	216	1,977
36	Cheshire East	2,799	128	84	2,548
37	Durham	2,778	973	63	1,707
38	Haringey	2,701	806	114	1,756
39	Wealden	2,689	1,423	175	1,006
40	Greenwich	2,653	1,313	253	1,030
41	Newry Mourne Down	2,624	965	66	1,543
42	East Riding	2,606	1,469	109	938
43	Wandsworth	2,580	235	80	2,086
44	Cotswold	2,576	1,388	59	1,065
45	Uttlesford	2,484	245	116	2,102
46	Harrow	2,481	829	185	1,408
47	Guildford	2,416	920	133	1,330
48	North Somerset	2,403	1,080	97	1,190
49	South West Devon	2,398	421	121	1,765
50	Mid Sussex	2,396	1,236	68	1,004
51	Sheffield	2,395	719	98	1,549
52	Sevenoaks	2,393	952	99	1,325
53	South Gloucestershire	2,382	323	139	1,879
54	Lambeth	2,378	989	224	1,089
55	East Hertfordshire	2,366	534	182	1,529
56	Hounslow	2,352	1,112	137	978
57	West Lindsey	2,315	1,114	111	1,056
58	North Hertfordshire	2,266	750	68	1,430
59	Canterbury	2,241	1,332	24	841
60	Armagh Banbridge Craigavon	2,231	1,221	56	887
61	Chester	2,230	801	60	1,111
62	Cherwell	2,221	1,321	106	740
63	Tower Hamlets	2,217	1,118	120	979
64	East Suffolk	2,213	964	48	1,155
65	Kensington	2,204	924	45	1,127
66	Newham	2,197	583	80	1,475
67	West Oxfordshire	2,189	1,195	51	904
68	Havering	2,181	393	1	1,749
69	Kings Lynn	2,181	932	89	1,085
70	Causeway and Glens	2,166	1,248	42	815
71	Shropshire	2,146	309	26	1,802
72	Tonbridge	2,137	1,324	51	691
73	West Berkshire	2,136	631	47	1,415
74	North Norfolk	2,135	1,202	37	843
75	Test Valley	2,125	489	54	1,493
76	Epping Forest	2,119	356	218	1,516
77	South Oxfordshire	2,117	1,506	80	474
78	Fife	2,114	15	43	1,812
79	Hillingdon	2,100	1,177	164	720
80	Aberdeenshire	2,095	761	33	1,282
81	Central Bedfordshire	2,083	878	160	921
82	West Suffolk	2,066	909	38	1,052
83	Hammersmith and Fulham	2,065	741	48	1,243
84	Stockport	2,030	791	58	1,166
85	Liverpool	2,009	196	132	1,653
86	Brighton and Hove	1,981	679	70	1,197
87	Westmorland and Furness	1,929	440	77	1,368
88	Reigate	1,928	552	75	1,272
89	Trafford	1,926	210	92	1,623
90	Kingston	1,920	661	163	1,074
91	Sefton	1,909	284	70	1,522
92	East Staffordshire	1,894	846	110	905
93	Solihull	1,884	999	88	781
94	Oxford	1,864	661	55	1,112
95	Vale of White Horse	1,843	1,265	68	466
96	Wychavon	1,841	798	102	891
97	Bolton	1,838	340	157	1,324
98	Medway	1,836	357	80	1,349
99	Fermanagh and Omagh	1,835	1,301	29	459
100	East Devon	1,831	108	48	1,554
101	Hertsmere	1,828	964	148	649
102	City of London	1,813	970	5	818
103	Waverley	1,803	1,059	133	578
104	Stroud	1,791	759	92	876
105	Islington	1,791	185	76	1,511
106	Swansea	1,785	976	137	653
107	Dacorum	1,752	915	87	693
108	North Yorkshire	1,739	593	51	1,077
109	Nottingham	1,719	387	43	1,273
110	Wokingham	1,719	1,031	99	560
111	Chelmsford	1,713	680	93	926
112	Elmbridge	1,685	928	273	458
113	Welwyn Hatfield	1,683	1,006	125	491
114	Three Rivers	1,678	726	70	838
115	Charnwood	1,675	620	224	743
116	Ards and North Down	1,673	1,091	48	478
117	Isle of Wight	1,663	727	64	827
118	Cheltenham	1,656	904	24	684
119	Horsham	1,643	781	70	766
120	Arun	1,625	851	87	606
121	Huntingdonshire	1,617	612	53	918
122	Dover	1,613	587	50	952
123	Tunbridge Wells	1,609	799	36	755
124	Dumfries	1,602	702	27	844
125	Tendring	1,586	509	54	1,004
126	South Kesteven	1,568	950	64	527
127	South Somerset	1,565	371	41	1,113
128	Lisburn and Castlereagh	1,563	890	28	573
129	Mid East Antrim	1,559	1,053	96	358
130	Northumberland (County)	1,546	10	1	1,535
131	Windsor	1,521	525	207	734
132	Antrim and Newtownabbey	1,520	917	77	473
133	Woking	1,516	737	115	664
134	Chiltern South Bucks	1,511	179	252	1,044
135	Adur and Worthing	1,510	885	43	559
136	Northumberland	1,491	78	14	1,396
137	Runnymede	1,475	385	144	931
138	Warwick	1,469	541	41	843
139	Derry and Strabane	1,467	735	21	678
140	Bexley	1,467	324	39	1,101
141	Derby	1,463	338	30	1,083
142	Surrey Heath	1,461	623	67	740
143	Slough	1,453	212	128	1,080
144	South Norfolk Broadland	1,439	408	41	938
145	Hart	1,432	364	27	1,021
146	Argyll	1,429	571	6	671
147	Basildon	1,426	763	68	546
148	Mendip	1,420	465	57	877
149	Harborough	1,417	568	39	777
150	Gravesham	1,413	715	167	510
151	Peterborough	1,408	657	53	634
152	Swindon	1,397	508	50	809
153	Highland	1,389	379	9	974
154	Cardiff	1,383	589	17	766
155	Coventry	1,378	99	111	1,138
156	York	1,375	507	48	801
157	Sandwell	1,374	319	61	976
158	Perth	1,371	887	59	354
159	Winchester	1,367	585	11	738
160	Stratford on Avon	1,365	408	62	835
161	Chichester	1,361	541	113	664
162	Warrington	1,344	639	122	566
163	Glasgow	1,331	259	75	949
164	New Forest (District)	1,325	152	49	1,098
165	North Northamptonshire	1,324	350	24	931
166	Newark and Sherwood	1,312	642	25	636
167	Thanet	1,312	864	79	341
168	Lake District	1,312	292	68	896
169	Milton Keynes	1,309	269	112	900
170	Barking and Dagenham	1,307	634	174	489
171	Southend	1,306	383	160	739
172	Calderdale	1,299	415	52	814
173	Doncaster	1,288	731	74	295
174	Broxbourne	1,278	202	63	979
175	Breckland	1,258	260	35	948
176	Salford	1,258	144	92	977
177	Wakefield	1,247	453	58	719
178	Basingstoke	1,246	749	63	399
179	Aberdeen	1,223	659	45	496
180	North Tyneside	1,220	612	49	554
181	Sutton	1,218	365	40	807
182	South Staffordshire	1,197	394	75	707
183	Folkestone and Hythe	1,195	323	104	744
184	West Lancashire	1,189	504	61	590
185	Harrogate	1,187	551	74	526
186	Wigan	1,177	213	70	873
187	Ashford	1,176	325	47	759
188	Forest of Dean	1,175	574	31	541
189	Rutland	1,171	480	35	625
190	New Forest (Park)	1,170	483	18	652
191	Carmarthenshire	1,159	437	81	624
192	East Lothian	1,157	559	20	510
193	Bassetlaw	1,156	452	54	631
194	Lancaster	1,151	336	57	723
195	Waltham Forest	1,127	176	122	816
196	Wirral	1,122	183	81	840
197	Fenland	1,120	671	74	361
198	Teignbridge	1,119	335	61	716
199	North Kesteven	1,117	468	8	633
200	East Lindsey	1,113	583	30	480

Last updated: 22 September 2026

Planning application volumes are driven by a mix of population size, economic activity, housing demand, and local planning authority policy. London boroughs and large metropolitan authorities typically handle the highest volumes of planning applications, though some smaller district councils with significant development pressure can also rank highly in total applications submitted.

The total planning application count includes all application types decided or received by each local planning authority: full planning applications, householder extensions and alterations, listed building consents, tree works, discharge of planning conditions, prior approval notifications, and more. Some busy UK councils receive over a thousand planning applications per month.

Tracking planning application volumes across UK councils over time helps identify areas experiencing development booms or slowdowns. Rising planning application numbers often precede construction activity by 12 to 18 months, making this data valuable for developers, investors, and infrastructure planners assessing where the development pipeline is most active.

More UK Planning Statistics

Highest Planning Approval Rates by Council Slowest Planning Councils in England Planning Appeals by Council Housing Development Hotspots UK Planning Application Trends

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