Housing permissions fall to 13-year low as planning decisions drop 8%

England entered the latest round of planning reform with fewer applications moving through the system and a weaker housing permission pipeline, according to new government figures.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says councils received 78,700 planning applications between April and June, 2% fewer than a year earlier. They decided 74,500 applications, down 8%, and granted 65,200, also down 8%.

The approval rate itself was unchanged at 88%. The more striking issue is volume: applications, decisions and housing permissions all remain subdued.

Planning decisions fall faster than applications

The 78,700 applications received were only slightly below the 79,600 reported in January to March 2026, but the year-on-year fall continues a much longer decline from the post-pandemic peak.

Decision-making did improve against the previous quarter. Councils decided 74,500 applications, up from 68,400 in January to March, while grants rose from 59,400 to 65,200. But compared with April to June 2025, decisions were still down 8%.

By the end of June, councils had about 114,000 applications on hand, 3% more than a year earlier. At the start of the quarter the stock of applications was 53% higher than the number subsequently decided during the three months, compared with a 44% gap a year earlier.

The regional picture was not uniform. Applications received rose 3% in the North West and 2% in the West Midlands, but fell 6% in the South West and 8% in the North East. Decisions fell 12% in the South West and 10% in the East Midlands, National Parks and the North West, while the North East was unchanged.

Housing permissions fall to a 13-year low

The sharper warning comes from the housing pipeline. The latest provisional Glenigan data published by MHCLG show detailed permission for 212,000 homes in the year to June 2026, down 12% from 242,000 a year earlier. HBF’s later Housing Pipeline report sharpens that picture by showing a record-low number of larger housing projects gaining approval.

On the comparable year-ending-June series, that is the lowest total since 2013, when 191,000 homes were recorded. The number of detailed residential permissions fell by only 2%, from 15,330 to 15,000, so the reduction in homes is much steeper than the reduction in permissions.

There is an important caveat. These figures are provisional and the latest quarter tends to be revised upwards. The 2025 year-ending-June figure was first published at 221,000 homes and is now shown as 242,000, a 21,000-home revision. The current 212,000 figure therefore needs to be treated as a snapshot, not a final outturn.

Applications for detailed residential schemes were broadly flat at 22,730 over the year, but the number of homes covered fell 8% to 274,000. Outline applications fell 6% to 2,930, although the number of homes covered by them rose 41% to 246,000. That points to a changing mix of schemes rather than a broad recovery in application activity.

For the quarter itself, councils granted 6,900 residential applications, down 2% year-on-year. Commercial permissions were also weaker, with 1,400 granted, down 6%. Householder decisions fell 14% to 37,700.

Headline decision times still rely heavily on agreed extensions

Headline performance remains strong if agreed extensions are included. MHCLG reports that 91% of major applications were decided within 13 weeks or an agreed period, unchanged from a year earlier.

But only 19% of major applications were actually determined within the statutory 13 weeks, down four percentage points. For minor applications, 87% were decided within eight weeks or an agreed period, but only 39% within the statutory eight weeks.

The reason for the gap is visible in the performance-agreement data. MHCLG uses that term to cover Planning Performance Agreements, extensions of time and Environmental Impact Assessment cases. During the quarter, 41% of all decisions involved one of these arrangements, rising to 77% of major decisions and 53% of minor decisions.

Most decisions are already delegated

Of the 74,500 district-level decisions made during the quarter, 72,100, or 97%, were delegated to officers. MHCLG says that proportion has been stable since 2014.

That matters when these figures are used as a baseline for the forthcoming planning reform package. The data show that delegation is already the norm, while the more obvious pressure points are falling application volumes, a larger stock of live cases and the heavy use of agreed extensions.

A pre-reform baseline, not a verdict on the new system

These statistics cover April to June 2026. They predate the August 2026 NPPF, the October National Scheme of Delegation and most of the autumn reform programme. They therefore cannot tell us whether those changes have worked.

What they can do is provide a useful baseline. Immediately before the latest reforms, overall planning activity was still weakening, the number of homes securing detailed permission was provisionally at its lowest year-ending-June level since 2013, and headline decision-time performance depended heavily on agreed extensions.

The downstream delivery picture is mixed too. The same day’s housebuilding figures showed reported starts up 20%, but with a major BSR reporting caveat and weaker recent EPC evidence.

That picture also fits recent evidence from the development market. Henry Boot reported more than £10 million of planning investment at Hallam Land while residential land sales more than halved, underlining the gap between promoting land through planning and turning it into transactions and delivery.

For a specific example of changing buyer appetite, Vistry plans to shrink its owned land bank and reduce South East private-sales exposure. That is a separate company decision, not an explanation for the national permission figures, but it highlights why securing consent and finding a buyer are different tests.

The full MHCLG planning applications statistical release and planning application live tables are available on GOV.UK.