Recently released government planning performance data shows a decrease in all planning applications to 96,000, down 13% on the same quarter in 2022. Both overall decisions and granted decisions have fallen, although the number of major sites granted in the 13 week window has increased by 3%, against the same quarter of last year.
The data also showed that in the year ending March 2023 district level planning authorities granted 34,800 residential applications (73% of all those submitted), down 8% on the previous year. The number of residential decisions made was down 6% (Q1 2023 compared to Q1 2022), with the number granted down 9%.
In terms of permissions for homes, this is obtained using data from Glenigan, with provisional figures showing that 269,000 homes were permissioned in the year to March 2023. This is down from 11% from the previous year (302,000).
The figures are a blow to government which remains committed to 1million homes before the next election, as referenced by Michael Gove on the launch of the new long-term housing plan.
Number of planning applications received, decided and granted (thousands)
Planning applications (above)
This chart shows the trends in authorities undertaking district level planning in England, from quarter ending June 2005 to quarter ending March 2023. This shows that applications have never recovered to pre financial crash levels, despite a post-pandemic spike in activity.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
