Air conditioning planning trends
Air conditioning applications surged through the UK's hottest summer on record, and the air conditioning planning index stands at 166, the highest since 2016.
Air conditioning applications since 2016
Air conditioning applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredA surge through the record summer of 2026
Air conditioning's share of applications rose every month of summer 2026, the UK's hottest on record: from 50 in every 10,000 in May to 89 in September, as monthly applications went from 176 to 302.
London at nearly three times the UK share
From 2023 to 2025 London received 118 air conditioning applications in every 10,000, against 42 across the UK. Northern Ireland was lowest, on 6.2. Westminster has received 2,860 since 2016, more than four times Camden's 668.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 827 air conditioning applications in Q3 2026: 80 in every 10,000 applications, against 47 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 72% higher than a year earlier.
Air conditioning applications each quarter
827 in Q3 2026, against 511 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 80 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 47 a year earlier.
Where air conditioning applications concentrate
By region
Air conditioning applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Westminster
London · 474 in every 10,000 2,860 -
Camden
London · 227 in every 10,000 668 -
Hammersmith & Fulham
London · 246 in every 10,000 530 -
Wandsworth
London · 131 in every 10,000 478 -
Barnet
London · 73 in every 10,000 396 -
Hackney
London · 104 in every 10,000 241 -
Islington
London · 110 in every 10,000 241 -
Southwark
London · 104 in every 10,000 238 -
Leeds
Yorkshire and Humber · 34 in every 10,000 201 -
Lambeth
London · 67 in every 10,000 198
Latest air conditioning applications
- 113 Kitwood Avenue Dordon Driveway alterations with boundary treatments, porch to front, external wall insulation & 2No. Air conditioning condenser units to front & side (Part retrospective)
- 31 Park Road Bingley West Yorkshire New shop frontage and air conditioning condensers
- 20, Duncan Terrace, London Installation of an external air-conditioning unit to the rear outrigger elevation at basement level, and serving five internal units within the existing residential accommodation.
- The White Hart, The Terrace, London Roof top extension to existing public house. Installation of 2no. air conditioning units.
- 14 Wadham Road, London Installation of AC unit / air-to-air heat-pump system within the rear garden.
- 43 Shottermill Horsham West Sussex Installation of air conditioning compressor unit, Installation of tiles side of garage, Installation of two rear garden patios and replacement of slabs at front and side of the property.
How often are they refused?
Of 15,498 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 8.0% were refused, below the 11.3% for all applications.
Refusal rate by year
Decisions, applications received 2016 to 2024
- Approved or refused15,498
- Refused8.0%
- Withdrawn before a decision1,398
- All applications11.3% refused
Questions
How many air conditioning planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 21,947 since January 2016, 2,484 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share of all applications is the highest since 2016.
Which councils get the most air conditioning applications?
Westminster, Camden and Hammersmith & Fulham have received the most since 2016.
Are air conditioning applications rising or falling?
Rising. Air conditioning's share of applications in the 12 months to September 2026 was 48% higher than three years earlier, and the air conditioning planning index reached 166, the highest since 2016.
How often are air conditioning applications refused?
Of 15,498 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 8.0% were refused, below the 11.3% for all applications.
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
Since 29 May 2025, a reversible air-to-air heat pump on an English house can be permitted development, needing no planning application.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names air conditioning 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 air conditioning 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 air conditioning 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.
- Refusals: applications received 2016 to 2024 and decided, at councils whose published decisions pass our checks against their decision notices. Approvals and refusals count; withdrawals do not. "All applications" means every decision of that kind at the same councils over the same years. Applications received from 2025 are added once most are decided.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- The Met Office confirmed summer 2026 as the UK's hottest on record, with a mean temperature of 16.5C across June, July and August. itv.com
- The General Permitted Development (England) (Amendment) Order 2025 came into force on 29 May 2025 and rewrote Class G, Part 14, so a heat pump not solely used for cooling can be permitted development on a house. legislation.gov.uk
- The Amendment Order 2025 and its 29 May 2025 coming-into-force date. legislation.gov.uk