Total Number of Planning Permission Applications in England Has Fallen by Almost a Quarter Over the Last 10 Years

Government data has revealed less planning permission applications are being submitted than a decade ago.

Over the past year, there has been great scrutiny over the UK finance and property markets and the latest government planning permission release has proved an interesting read.

As part of its ongoing campaign to educate investors about the development process, commercial property finance broker, Pure Commercial Finance has drawn attention to statistics which reveal the number of planning permission applications made in England has dropped 25% since 2007.

Back in 2006/2007 there were 645 planning permission applications received in England. This fell to just 486 in 2016/2017.

Further research has revealed that in the year ending 31^st March 2017, the least likely place to get a major planning application granted was in Epsom and Ewell, Surrey, where just 38,46% were granted. Spelthorne and Bournemouth also saw low success rates with 50% and 52.08% of major development applications granted respectively.

Despite this decrease in planning applications, the probability of plans being granted has improved. Ten years ago, 82% of applications were granted, but last year this rose to an 88% success rate. Furthermore, in 2016/2017 there were 18 locations in England where 100% of all major planning applications were granted. This included high population growth areas such as the City of London.

Ben Lloyd, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Pure Commercial Finance, said:

“Commercial property finance is our bread and butter and we help arrange funding for development projects across the country on a daily basis, so we were intrigued to see where these were most likely to get permission and at what rate.

“We are pleased to see a number of planning bodies across the country are keen for the redevelopment and expansion of property on offer in their areas, and are delighted to provide our current and future clients with an insight into this data.”

 For further insights into the data analysed and to read the full report click here.