Planning HELL - List reveals ‘worst offender’ councils where decisions take up to SEVEN years

Councils are legally required to make decisions on minor planning applications within 56 days and major developments within 91 days.

But the data shows nearly half of the 18 councils that shared their average response times failed to meet these targets in 2023 – holding back innovation and growth.

Dorset topped the list as the ‘worst offender’ council taking an average of 1,372 days (3.75 years) to make decisions on applications, 15 times the legal requirement.

It was followed by Mid Suffolk District Council (381 days – 4.1 times legal limit) and Bamburgh District Council (344 days – 3.7 times legal limit).

RANKED: Worst offender councils when it comes to making planning decisions

RANKED: Worst offender councils when it comes to making planning decisions

The data also showed almost every rural council is still sitting on cases from before 2020, with many stretching back decades.

In North Norfolk, an application to build 94 homes and a community centre, submitted eight years ago, is still yet to be approved despite continued back and forth, for example.

Similarly, Mid Devon is also yet to approve an ongoing proposal for 90 new homes submitted in 2019.

Even smaller projects have faced delays. A 2007 application for a recreational fishing lake in South Norfolk dragged on for seven years before seemingly stalling in 2014.

Peter Hogg, farmer and rural business owner in the Northeast, was victim of Britain’s sluggish system.

“The planning system is crippling businesses like mine,” said Hogg.

“We had a farmhouse I wanted to convert into a B&B to help diversify our income. But the application dragged on for over a year due to a dispute over adding a small sunroom, which should have been straightforward given it was replacing a previous extension we’d demolished.

“The delay meant we lost a full season and over £30,000 in revenue. And when permission was finally granted, it took just two weeks and £800 to build the sunroom – four times less than what we paid in planning costs.

“If businesses like mine are to succeed, government must cut the red tape that’s stunting our growth and livelihoods. Beyond the financial impact, the mental toll is profound. Many perceived problems could be sorted in 20 minutes over a cup of tea.”

Rural growth is not only being stifled by long waiting times but also low rates of approval.

Some councils are rejecting nearly half of all applications, from diversification projects to infrastructure development, putting local economies and businesses at risk.

Central Bedfordshire approved just 50% of projects between August 2023 and August 2024, while West Lindsey District council approved 61%, for example.

Meanwhile, government statistics show alarmingly low approval rates for new homes. Maldon approved just 44% of major development applications from January 2023 – June 2024, Woking approved 29%, and Wychavon 57%.

In fact, 18 councils rejected one in four major housing projects (10 or more homes), putting government housing targets under threat.

​RANKED: The hardest areas to get major planning permission in Britain

​RANKED: The hardest areas to get minor planning permission in Britain

Given this data, it is unsurprising polling of England’s 100 most rural constituencies reveals strong appetite for reform to the planning system to help the countryside unlock its full potential.

A Survation poll, commissioned by the Country Land and Business Association, reveals the majority (56%) believe reforming the planning system would stimulate growth in rural areas.

Victoria Vyvyan, president of Country Land and Business Association, commented: “Our planning system is in crisis and it’s stagnating growth in the countryside.

“Rural businesses could grow, provide much needed housing and employment, and be nimble and fast-moving, but they’re being hampered by a planning system that’s anything but.

“It would be unheard of to make a tech company wait a decade to innovate, rural businesses should be no different.

“The productivity of rural areas lags 14% and that is in no small part due to planning delays and refusals. Yet the latest revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework offer little to fix this.

“Labour is scrambling to find economic growth, but the opportunity is right here. Let’s clear the backlogs and create a planning system that powers rural growth.”

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It comes as rural folk feel increasingly attacked by the Labour government after it slapped farmers with inheritance tax and suspended a vital payment scheme without warning.

They say the threat of a massive inheritance tax bill capable of wiping out profit for the next ten years has sparked a rural recession.

In preparation for the bill, farmers are cancelling orders, scaling back growth plans, stopping hiring news staff and looking to cut costs, all of which is sending shockwaves through the rural economy.

Indeed, the Country Land and Business Association has called on the government to reverse the tax, offering an alternative of a growth plan instead.

They want the government to focus on growing the rural economy which will boost tax receipts rather than taxing it out of hand.

Defra was approached for comment.