What do the planning applications in England data measure?

The series track the volume of planning applications handled by English local planning authorities, alongside housebuilding statistics for dwellings built by private enterprise and local authorities.

How far back does the England planning applications data go?

The quarterly figures for planning applications and housebuilding in England are published by GOV.UK official statistics with coverage extending back to 1978.

Which regional breakdowns are available for English planning applications?

The data provide breakdowns across all nine English regions, including London, the North West, and the South East, as well as national park authorities and an England total.

Who publishes planning applications in England?

The statistics are compiled from local authority returns and released quarterly as GOV.UK official statistics by the responsible government department.

Planning applications in England

Name: Planning applications in England
Creator: GOV.UK official statistics
License: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Source: GOV.UK official statisticsLast updated: Sep 28, 2026, 05:13Curated by Bui Thanh PhucAbout this data ↓

Indicator	Q2-2026	Q1-2026	Q4-2025	Q3-2025	Q2-2025	Q1-2025	Q4-2024	Q3-2024	Q2-2024	Q1-2024	Q4-2023	Q3-2023	Q2-2023
Planning applications7
Applications received11
England, all authorities	78,706	79,521	76,919	79,055	80,300	88,654	79,169	81,540	84,333	85,692	84,683	87,679	92,497
London	14,323	13,909	13,802	14,117	14,821	15,313	14,800	14,726	14,805	14,543	14,293	15,152	15,771
South East	15,229	15,285	15,024	15,437	15,544	17,431	15,230	15,793	16,550	16,684	16,556	17,020	18,432
South West	9,366	9,436	9,374	9,845	9,930	11,104	9,759	10,162	10,538	10,991	10,755	10,856	11,383
East of England	10,205	10,451	10,068	10,143	10,367	11,514	9,917	10,122	10,774	10,937	11,134	11,152	11,979
East Midlands	5,735	5,861	5,719	5,663	5,837	6,800	5,831	6,071	6,141	6,565	6,345	6,742	7,078
West Midlands	6,464	6,727	6,356	6,371	6,341	6,990	6,345	6,706	7,027	7,053	6,837	7,527	7,648
North West	7,789	7,986	7,094	7,494	7,587	8,768	7,598	7,861	7,935	8,347	8,159	8,261	8,611
North East	2,087	2,362	2,365	2,500	2,273	2,538	2,291	2,391	2,362	2,407	2,423	2,584	2,641
Yorkshire and the Humber	6,236	6,173	5,873	6,218	6,230	6,746	5,962	6,232	6,810	6,581	6,533	6,793	7,324
National park authorities	1,272	1,331	1,244	1,267	1,370	1,450	1,436	1,476	1,391	1,584	1,648	1,592	1,630
Applications decided11
England, all authorities	74,484	68,371	72,685	76,321	80,740	70,860	75,405	79,706	81,845	79,123	80,576	85,702	87,486
London	14,062	12,047	12,733	13,760	14,296	12,953	13,665	14,031	13,730	13,220	13,375	14,653	15,007
South East	14,357	13,064	14,339	14,689	15,694	14,060	14,263	15,931	15,834	15,126	15,822	17,167	17,181
South West	8,900	8,507	8,835	9,586	10,146	8,966	9,598	9,924	10,412	10,440	10,081	10,195	10,703
East of England	9,728	8,901	9,574	9,952	10,687	9,218	9,840	10,091	10,789	10,327	10,366	11,185	11,596
East Midlands	5,353	5,059	5,395	5,553	5,960	5,016	5,606	5,868	6,295	6,047	6,229	6,485	6,677
West Midlands	5,941	5,536	5,873	6,117	6,378	5,706	6,078	6,251	6,535	6,514	6,833	7,192	7,239
North West	7,035	6,543	6,869	7,071	7,777	6,459	6,905	7,445	7,907	7,718	7,477	7,916	8,299
North East	2,227	2,138	2,175	2,382	2,226	1,975	2,209	2,352	2,290	2,195	2,385	2,537	2,399
Yorkshire and the Humber	5,728	5,412	5,635	5,981	6,288	5,294	5,920	6,380	6,635	6,064	6,498	6,824	6,840
National park authorities	1,153	1,164	1,257	1,230	1,288	1,213	1,321	1,433	1,418	1,472	1,510	1,548	1,545
Applications withdrawn11
England, all authorities	3,999	4,150	4,316	4,470	4,900	5,437	5,447	5,815	6,656	6,866	7,196	8,196	7,429
London	663	607	636	754	922	954	939	1,122	1,120	1,124	1,264	1,423	1,234
South East	768	825	851	846	884	993	1,044	1,107	1,108	1,267	1,273	1,255	1,270
South West	552	605	679	642	698	725	824	812	967	1,011	1,023	881	995
East of England	460	483	489	566	565	591	632	593	704	804	765	798	808
East Midlands	335	285	297	272	334	381	376	408	401	432	561	553	481
West Midlands	343	369	354	353	395	467	437	447	450	694	586	592	556
North West	384	451	465	458	528	653	559	669	755	747	908	1,911	1,249
North East	114	111	126	134	134	159	146	122	150	209	167	174	192
Yorkshire and the Humber	293	319	329	346	327	380	356	412	896	428	485	461	482
National park authorities	87	95	90	99	113	134	134	123	105	150	164	148	162
Applications on hand at the start of the quarter11
England, all authorities	113,820	107,546	106,730	110,017	116,530	105,770	108,688	114,486	120,123	122,194	126,315	133,417	139,646
London	23,238	22,271	20,023	20,276	21,093	20,796	21,028	21,599	21,486	21,464	22,202	23,217	23,775
South East	21,342	20,095	20,535	21,086	22,117	19,979	20,233	21,970	22,683	22,801	23,360	25,246	25,692
South West	12,397	12,063	12,188	12,626	13,584	12,144	12,830	13,465	14,986	15,455	15,840	15,709	17,853
East of England	12,313	11,234	11,297	11,714	12,678	11,134	11,796	12,272	13,126	13,993	14,120	14,969	15,255
East Midlands	9,102	8,720	8,783	9,097	9,588	8,265	8,482	8,794	9,393	9,316	9,814	10,147	10,244
West Midlands	10,329	9,477	9,501	9,594	10,104	9,138	9,278	9,873	9,758	10,037	10,583	11,257	11,406
North West	12,111	11,291	11,654	12,600	13,676	12,160	12,342	12,811	13,852	14,217	14,687	16,348	18,704
North East	3,252	3,128	3,145	3,199	3,317	2,969	3,102	3,288	3,414	3,484	3,696	3,903	3,916
Yorkshire and the Humber	7,904	7,465	7,698	7,854	8,336	7,238	7,588	8,293	9,150	9,093	9,634	10,181	10,276
National park authorities	1,832	1,802	1,906	1,971	2,037	1,947	2,009	2,121	2,275	2,334	2,379	2,440	2,525
Decisions taken by officers under delegated powers11
England, all authorities	72,067	65,872	69,792	73,626	78,052	68,209	72,285	76,636	78,601	75,922	77,272	82,441	84,527
London	13,719	11,742	12,337	13,359	13,871	12,534	13,294	13,600	13,210	12,784	12,938	14,283	14,613
South East	13,867	12,587	13,678	14,118	15,142	13,516	13,687	15,333	15,209	14,501	15,188	16,537	16,569
South West	8,658	8,285	8,561	9,318	9,855	8,695	9,130	9,561	10,012	10,037	9,671	9,808	10,348
East of England	9,372	8,531	9,205	9,577	10,317	8,859	9,407	9,639	10,311	9,871	9,918	10,778	11,195
East Midlands	5,120	4,812	5,132	5,341	5,721	4,785	5,309	5,613	6,052	5,782	5,943	6,193	6,441
West Midlands	5,763	5,328	5,634	5,889	6,176	5,521	5,840	5,988	6,306	6,252	6,563	6,922	7,009
North West	6,713	6,182	6,490	6,778	7,447	6,152	6,545	7,121	7,582	7,341	7,090	7,512	7,941
North East	2,147	2,053	2,091	2,274	2,148	1,878	2,085	2,247	2,166	2,097	2,279	2,443	2,293
Yorkshire and the Humber	5,607	5,261	5,483	5,809	6,157	5,127	5,729	6,189	6,428	5,863	6,259	6,515	6,634
National park authorities	1,101	1,091	1,181	1,163	1,218	1,142	1,259	1,345	1,325	1,394	1,423	1,450	1,484
Enforcement notices issued11
England, all authorities	1,071	1,435	1,010	914	880	977	915	944	1,027	1,001	958	1,013	969
London	273	300	318	272	225	325	294	264	264	325	340	312	324
South East	139	335	163	131	161	157	143	127	163	164	172	165	137
South West	60	76	57	72	87	72	67	90	90	73	58	76	60
East of England	86	108	114	94	88	91	82	95	123	112	79	98	98
East Midlands	60	66	39	51	40	49	27	44	44	52	57	57	53
West Midlands	71	96	99	68	51	57	52	65	65	59	44	68	55
North West	248	266	66	100	109	112	93	97	106	70	90	98	104
North East	15	38	35	25	26	19	34	18	21	27	27	21	9
Yorkshire and the Humber	97	130	104	79	74	81	96	117	121	101	72	93	109
National park authorities	22	20	15	22	19	14	27	27	30	18	19	25	20
Certificates of lawful development issued11
England, all authorities	11,530	9,872	10,039	11,113	11,878	10,214	9,929	10,331	10,380	10,164	9,807	10,467	10,915
London	3,365	2,904	2,749	3,125	3,308	3,135	2,764	2,987	2,879	3,099	2,939	3,364	3,404
South East	2,461	2,093	2,243	2,482	2,595	2,097	2,085	2,393	2,337	2,088	2,161	2,273	2,488
South West	926	847	814	994	1,032	921	935	984	846	1,160	807	804	831
East of England	1,413	1,113	1,363	1,289	1,490	1,282	1,233	1,270	1,408	1,168	1,201	1,362	1,354
East Midlands	571	474	562	521	621	483	499	480	509	462	431	421	455
West Midlands	716	640	601	723	786	648	674	581	630	574	582	585	631
North West	1,078	925	864	1,022	1,095	870	943	1,002	968	886	909	873	933
North East	197	144	158	171	165	153	133	125	133	118	140	125	127
Yorkshire and the Humber	706	644	606	712	723	558	591	428	582	537	563	565	595
National park authorities	97	88	79	74	63	67	72	81	88	72	74	95	97
Housebuilding2
Dwellings started4
All dwellings	38,510	34,440	31,750	31,630	31,900	29,540	25,990	31,020	27,340	24,480	17,000	21,990	72,980
Private enterprise	29,670	27,060	24,380	22,190	22,700	21,520	18,720	21,270	18,690	17,100	12,800	17,530	53,690
Housing associations	8,570	7,140	7,080	9,200	8,900	7,830	7,040	9,470	8,500	6,750	3,740	4,250	17,530
Local authorities	260	240	300	250	300	200	230	280	160	630	470	220	1,750
Dwellings completed4
All dwellings	37,530	33,760	41,570	30,930	37,010	32,560	40,850	34,000	44,630	34,360	44,770	40,470	40,730
Private enterprise	27,250	23,810	29,690	23,130	27,910	23,690	29,910	26,100	34,720	24,970	33,310	32,500	31,380
Housing associations	9,880	8,690	11,160	7,360	8,850	8,290	10,270	7,500	9,310	8,300	10,700	7,360	8,960
Local authorities	400	1,250	720	440	250	570	670	400	610	1,090	760	620	390

Latest reading

England, all authorities stood at 78,706 Applications in Q2 2026. That is −1.0% from Q1 2026 and −2.0% from a year earlier. The series on this page is quarterly and runs from Q2 1996 to Q2 2026. Source: GOV.UK official statistics.

Latest: 78,706 Applications; Q2 2026
vs previous period: −1.0%; Q1 2026
vs a year earlier: −2.0%

About this data

Every planning application made to an English local planning authority, quarterly since 1996: received, decided, withdrawn, and the backlog carried into each quarter, for all nine English regions and the national park authorities. This is the first step in new housing supply — an application comes before a start on site, which comes before a completion — so it leads the building figures rather than following them. Published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Frequently asked questions

What do the planning applications in England data measure?: The series track the volume of planning applications handled by English local planning authorities, alongside housebuilding statistics for dwellings built by private enterprise and local authorities.
How far back does the England planning applications data go?: The quarterly figures for planning applications and housebuilding in England are published by GOV.UK official statistics with coverage extending back to 1978.
Which regional breakdowns are available for English planning applications?: The data provide breakdowns across all nine English regions, including London, the North West, and the South East, as well as national park authorities and an England total.
Who publishes planning applications in England?: The statistics are compiled from local authority returns and released quarterly as GOV.UK official statistics by the responsible government department.