Has planning approval shifted?
This tracks observed approval rates year by year across the available discretionary decision record, by type and borough. It describes movement in the case mix; it does not attribute the change to a particular reform.
Approval rate for all discretionary across London. The trend line below shows year-by-year movement.
Year-by-year approval rates for all discretionary, tracked from canonical decision records. Points are coloured grey where the annual sample is smaller than 50 decided applications. 2026 is year-to-date and is excluded from the headline change.
Discretionary, decided applications only: full planning, householder, outline, listed building consent, reserved matters. Excluded: permitted development, prior approval, lawful-development certificates, condition discharge, tree works.
Current view: All discretionary — spanning 2020 to 2025. Data pulled from the canonical stage2 planning applications record.