Affordable housing planning trends
The affordable housing planning index stands at 123: affordable housing takes almost a quarter more of UK planning applications than in 2016.
Affordable housing applications since 2016
Affordable housing applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredA smaller count, a bigger share
Councils received 1,199 affordable housing applications in 2016 and 913 in 2025, as total planning applications fell faster. The share turned up in 2025 and peaked in the year to June 2026. The rise followed the December 2024 revision of national planning policy.
Highest in Wales, lowest in London
From 2023 to 2025 Wales received 42 affordable housing applications in every 10,000, the South West 29 and Northern Ireland 28, against 18 across the UK. London received 7.4. Cornwall leads all councils with 442 since 2016, ahead of Shropshire with 389.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 208 affordable housing applications in Q3 2026: 20 in every 10,000 applications, against 22 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 9% lower than a year earlier.
Affordable housing applications each quarter
208 in Q3 2026, against 244 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 20 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 22 a year earlier.
Where affordable housing applications concentrate
By region
Affordable housing applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Cornwall
South West · 57 in every 10,000 442 -
Shropshire
West Midlands · 121 in every 10,000 389 -
Ceredigion
Wales · 230 in every 10,000 172 -
Babergh and Mid Suffolk (shared register)
East of England · 59 in every 10,000 163 -
Powys
Wales · 124 in every 10,000 157 -
Gwynedd
Wales · 160 in every 10,000 148 -
Somerset
South West · 25 in every 10,000 140 -
Dorset
South West · 26 in every 10,000 125 -
Stratford-on-Avon
West Midlands · 40 in every 10,000 103 -
Breckland
East of England · 70 in every 10,000 100
Latest affordable housing applications
- Land West Of Denham Lane (Butler's Field) Denham Lane Chalfont St Peter Buckinghamshire Outline planning application (all matters reserved) for up to 150 dwellings (including affordable housing), highways works, public open space, landscaping, drainage and all other associated infrastructure
- Gypsy Mead, Ongar Road, Fyfield Deed of Variation of Section 106 of EPF/0016/19 for agreed council acquisition of 6 affordable homes (Proposed development of x 23 no. new homes with associated parking facilities, cycle stores and rubbish disposal (FYF.R1 - Allocated Site in Fyfield)).
- Hafren Furnishers site, Westgate Street, Llanidloes, Powys Erection of 22 dwellings subsequent to the demolition of 3 existing buildings with associated works to create gardens, car parking and access (3 affordable units)
- The Bolt Hole, Throwleigh, Okehampton, Devon Change of use of 2-bedroom holiday let to a Class C3 (Discounted Open Market Affordable) dwelling for occupation as a principal residence by local qualifying persons
- 18-44 Wilkinson Avenue Wolverhampton West Midlands Erection of 15 replacement affordable housing units with parking, landscaping and associated works.
- Land South Of Darsham Station Main Road Darsham Suffolk Variation of Legal Agreement - DC/21/4006/OUT - Primary School Transport Contribution, Affordable Housing Obligations, Mix, and Connections
Questions
How many affordable housing planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 10,076 since January 2016, 1,022 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to June 2026.
Which councils receive the most affordable housing applications?
Cornwall, Shropshire and Ceredigion have received the most since 2016.
Do these figures count affordable homes built?
No. They count planning applications that mention affordable housing, social rent, shared ownership or rural exception sites.
Do changes to section 106 agreements count?
Yes. An application to change or remove the affordable housing terms of a section 106 agreement counts, because it changes what a scheme provides. A submission that only shows a clause has been met does not.
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
What needs an application
These figures count applications that mention affordable housing, including changes to the legal agreements that secure it, so they measure proposals rather than homes built.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names affordable housing or a close variant of the words, by the date each council received them. These are planning applications, not completed schemes; the largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- How matches are checked: we read the 200 most recent affordable housing applications and 20 from every year since 2016 to confirm each one belongs.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- A share is the number out of every 10,000 applications over the previous 12 months. Each topic is a number in every 10,000 planning applications, so trends compare when overall planning activity changes; the share still moves when either the topic's count or the total does. The affordable housing planning index sets the 2016 share at 100, so 200 means twice as common as in 2016.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- The National Planning Policy Framework was revised on 12 December 2024; its golden rules set affordable housing on major housing schemes on released green belt land at 15 percentage points above the highest local requirement, capped at 50%. gov.uk