England’s planning system is showing signs of growing strain as new government figures reveal a sharp disconnect between rising demand and falling approvals.
According to data released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, district-level planning authorities in England received 90,700 applications for planning permission between January and March 2025 – up 6% compared to the same quarter last year.
However, despite this rise in demand, the number of decisions made by local authorities fell.
Just 70,900 applications were decided, marking a 10% year-on-year decline, while the number of approvals also dropped to 61,500, down 9%.
SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT
This equates to 87% of all decisions being granted – a slight improvement on the 85% recorded a year earlier.
In the residential sector, the number of approved applications fell 11% to 7,000, while commercial development approvals also dropped 11% to 1,500.
Householder developments – typically small-scale home improvements – accounted for the majority of decisions, with 36,200 applications determined, representing 51% of all outcomes.
Performance on major applications remained steady, with 90% decided within 13 weeks or within agreed timeframes, unchanged from the same quarter in 2024. However, just 19% were determined within the statutory 13-week period.
On a rolling annual basis, the total number of planning permissions granted fell to 265,800 in the year ending March 2025 – a 7% decrease on the previous year. Residential approvals saw an even steeper decline, down 8% to 29,300 over the same period.
ONGOING PRESSURES
Neil Leitch, managing director of development finance at Hampshire Trust Bank, said: “A drop in planning approvals confirms what many developers have been seeing in practice.
“It supports recent Home Builders Federation data pointing to a 13-year low in approval levels and highlights the ongoing pressures within the UK’s planning system.”
LACK OF CAPACITY
And he added: “Planning remains the biggest obstacle. Developers face delays, inconsistent feedback and limited engagement from under-resourced planning teams. The system is not failing through lack of intent. It is failing through lack of capacity.
“We talk a lot about reform, but what developers need is delivery. That means local authorities equipped with the people, skills and systems to make timely, consistent decisions. Until then, even the best policy will struggle to translate into real-world impact.
“We know what the issues are. This is not about political direction. It is about giving the system the resources to function. Without that, housing output will continue to fall short of what is needed.”
