Banking hub planning trends
UK councils received 55 banking hub applications in the 12 months to September 2026, a share more than six times that of three years earlier.
Banking hub applications since 2016
Banking hub applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredFrom almost none to dozens
Councils received one banking hub application in 2020 and one in 2022, then 10 in 2023, 27 in 2024 and 57 in 2025. The doubling from 2024 to 2025 followed the FCA's access to cash rules, in force since 18 September 2024.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 17 banking hub applications in Q3 2026, too few to compare their share with a year earlier.
Banking hub applications each quarter
17 in Q3 2026, against 20 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 1.7 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 1.8 a year earlier.
Latest banking hub applications
- 14 High Street, Dorking A new entrance is proposed to deliver level access into the Banking Hub and achieve DDA compliance.
- 72-73 Baxtergate Whitby North Yorkshire Proposed works include new shop front and full internal fit out of a vacant unit into a retail Banking Hub, new ATM, installation of fascia sign, projecting sign and suspended illuminated directory of services, window poster and community graphic vinyl to the front of the property and installation of ventilation grilles to the side of the property with new condenser units located at the rear.
- 50 Castle Street Hinckley Leicestershire Change of use to banking hub and installation of new signage, ventilation grilles and condenser units
- Shoezone, Units 30 And 32, Longton Exchange The Strand, Longton, Stoke-on-trent, City Of Stoke-on-trent Change of use of vacant unit to Banking Hub including external alterations, installation of ATM, signage, plant and associated works.
- Shoezone, Units 30 And 32, Longton Exchange The Strand, Longton, Stoke-on-trent, City Of Stoke-on-trent Proposed works include full internal fit out of a vacant unit into a retail Banking Hub, installation of new ATM, fascia sign, projecting sign and suspended directory of services, window posters and community graphic vinyl to the front of the property and installation of ventilation grilles and new condenser units located at the rear of the property.
- 33 - 35 Southgate Sleaford Lincolnshire Creation of retail Banking Hub, new ATM internally illuminated ATM surround, replacement ACM panel to existing window, and installation of ventilation grilles to the side of the property with new condenser units located within the rear yard.
Questions
How many banking hub planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 139 since January 2016, 55 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to June 2026.
Where are the most banking hubs being applied for?
Cornwall, Durham and Cheshire East have received the most since 2016.
Why are there more banking hubs open than applications for them?
The Post Office said in December 2025 that it operated 200 banking hubs. In England, Class E (the use class covering shops, cafes, offices, gyms and similar town-centre uses) covers both shops and banks, so a hub opening in a former shop or bank needs no change of use application.
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 1 September 2020, England's Class E has covered shops and banks alike, so a hub moving into a former shop or bank needs no change of use application.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names banking hubs 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 banking hub 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. This topic has no planning index: councils received fewer than 20 in 2016, too few to measure change against.
- 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 FCA's access to cash rules came into force on 18 September 2024. fca.org.uk
- Class E, in force in England from 1 September 2020, merged shops with financial and professional services. legislation.gov.uk
- The Post Office said in December 2025 that it operated 200 banking hubs. mynewsdesk.com