Planning application statistics

Official source

Rules for You uses MHCLG’s quarterly PS1 and PS2 district returns and the separate CPS1 and CPS2 county-matters returns. The source files are published as open data for England and may be reused under the Open Government Licence.

Open the official live tables and downloads or read MHCLG’s return guidance.

What the headline measures

“Applications received” is the sum of the latest four complete quarterly returns for the current reporting authority code. It covers validated planning and related applications within the return’s definition. It is not a count of every portal submission or every task undertaken by the planning service.

“Applications on hand” is the official figure at the beginning of the latest reported quarter. It is a dated snapshot, not a live backlog. Decision outcomes and timing come from PS2 or, for minerals and waste, from aggregated CPS2 records.

Updates and checks

An automated worker checks GOV.UK daily. A changed release is downloaded to private temporary storage, schema-checked and reconciled as one complete snapshot. The public site changes only after all four files pass the documented gate. Failed or partial imports remain invisible.

Raw CPS2 references and coordinates are discarded during aggregation. Rules for You stores only the quarterly facts needed for the public comparison and its audit trail.

Peer context

Peer bands compare rolling annual applications received among published authorities of the same authority type with four complete quarters. A comparison is withheld where fewer than eight peers qualify. County minerals and waste authorities form their own cohort.

The comparison is raw volume. It is not adjusted for population, geography, staffing, case complexity or the range of services delivered, and it must not be treated as a performance league table.

Reorganisations and revisions

A profile uses only its current official reporting code. Predecessor authorities are not combined because boundaries and responsibilities may differ. The chart begins when enough data exist for that current code. MHCLG can revise recent quarters and may impute missing district returns; each successful release therefore replaces the previous public snapshot.

Limits

The main received total excludes work including pre-application advice, discharge of conditions, non-material amendments and tree applications. Formal enforcement notices do not measure complaints, investigations or informal resolutions. Minerals and waste figures are always kept separate from district totals.