Application

Analysis {

Application submissions rise in November 2020

Despite tiered and national lockdowns in place in England and Wales in November 2020, 81 more applications were submitted compared with October, according to Planning Portal’s latest Planning Market Insight Report.

Th e November 2020 headlines:

59,044 planning applications were submitted through the Planning Portal, a 32 per cent increase in submissions compared with the 44,677 submissions in November 2019 and a rise of 1 per cent when compared with October 2020. In contrast with November 2019, householder applications are up by 51 per cent.

For the second time since March, when the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, full planning and associated consents are being submitted at a higher rate than 2019. This increase is similarly refl ected in the number of outline applications submitted – 4 per cent more than in 2019.

40 per cent more applications were submitted in November 2020 when compared with the same month in 2019. The North East reported a 44 per cent increase on the numbers seen in November 2019.

832 ‘applications’

were submitted for prior approval for offi ce to residential conversions in London and the South East between January and November 2020. In the North West there was a 37 per cent increase in applications submitted in November 2020 compared with a year earlier.

Decline in the number of decisions granted by councils

311,800: The number of decisions granted by district-level planning authorities in England in the year ending September 2020. This is a decline of 12 per cent compared with the year ending September 2019. 40,400 of those decisions granted were for residential development. Of these, 5,200 were for major developments, down 14 per cent on a year earlier, and 35,300 were for minor developments, down 11 per cent on the year ending September 2019.

In total, 398,600 planning applications were submitted to district councils in the year ending September 2020. This is 9 per cent lower than the number submitted a year earlier.

Between July and September 2020, district-level planning authorities received 106,200 applications seeking planning permission.

They reported 90,300 decisions for applications from July to September, 12 per cent less than the 103,100 decisions made in that period a year earlier.

79,300:

The number of decisions granted by districtlevel planning authorities from July to September.