Boban John
District level planning authorities in England both received and approved fewer planning applications last year than the year before.
Planning authorities granted 271,600 decisions in 2024, down 7% from 2023. This is from 330,500 planning applications received, down 8% from 2023.
Provisional figures show that permission for 241,000 homes was given in 2024, down 3% from the 248,000 homes granted permission in 2023.
The accredited official statistics were released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government on 20th March 2025.
There was no upturn later in the year after the new government got its feet under the table. In the fourth quarter of 2024 there was a 7% decline in applications, year-on-year, and a 6% decline in approvals.
Between October to December 2024, district level planning authorities in England received 79,000 applications for planning permission, down 7% from the same quarter a year earlier and granted 64,900 decisions, down 6% from the same quarter a year earlier.
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) was particularly concerned by the drop in plans for low volume housing developments. Chief executive Brian Berry said: “It is deeply disappointing to see the number of planning applications granted for developments of nine or fewer units in 2024 were down significantly on the previous year, by almost 2,000. This means a mere 9% of homes delivered will be from the nation’s small local house-builders – an increasingly dwindling part of the sector. The housing minister has been clear about the need to diversify the housing market away from a reliance on a small number of high-volume builders, yet today’s figures show more needs to be done.”
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