EDITORS CHOICE
APPLICATIONS FOR PLANNING PERMISSION DOWN BY 22,000 DURING LOCKDOWN
Newly released data from the Ministry of Housing shows a drop in homeowners looking to renovate during height of lockdown .
New data from the Ministry of Housing reveals 21,770 fewer applications were submitted for home improvements like extensions and loft conversions , during the height of lockdown , when compared to the same period in 2019 .
The research was completed by Roofing Megastore as part of a new renovation study , and the findings show 255,575 applications were submitted between April and June in 2019 , but during the same period this year , that figure dropped to 233,805 . On average , 90.7 % of applications were granted in 2020 , but almost one in 10 of those ( 9.3 %) were rejected by local planning authorities across the country , costing householders £ 4,820,194 in wasted application fees .
POSTCODE LOTTERY
One key aspect that affects how likely an application is to be granted , is a property ’ s location . So , Roofing Megastore analysed three years of planning application data from the Ministry of Housing , to discover where planning applications are most and least likely to be granted around the country .
Over the past three years 3,170,571 applications have been submitted for projects like large home improvements , and on average 91 % of applications are successful . But depending on where you live , the success rate for your local area could be as low as 65 %, or as high as 99 %.
Eight out of the top 10 most difficult places to get planning permission are in London , with Londoners spending a massive £ 21 million over the past three years on unsuccessful applications . The hardest place to get planning permission is Enfield , with a success rate of just 65 %, which is 26 % lower than the country ’ s average . Rochdale in Manchester and Southend-on-Sea in Essex are the only two places outside the capital to feature on the list .
74