House extension planning trends
Councils received 129,435 house extension applications in the 12 months to September 2026, the lowest share of all applications since 2016.
House extension applications since 2016
House extension applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredUp in 2021, down since
House extension applications peaked at 249,573 in the 12 months to August 2021. Their share has since fallen from 3,842 in every 10,000 applications to 2,975. The house extension planning index stands at 86, and the share is 9% below three years earlier.
Highest in the West Midlands and the North West
From 2023 to 2025, the West Midlands had 3,722 house extension applications in every 10,000 and the North West 3,607, against 3,127 across the UK. Scotland had 1,596, the lowest.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 28,659 house extension applications in Q3 2026: 2,781 in every 10,000 applications, against 2,864 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 3% lower than a year earlier.
House extension applications each quarter
28,659 in Q3 2026, against 31,321 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 2,781 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 2,864 a year earlier.
Where house extension applications concentrate
By region
House extension applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Birmingham
West Midlands · 4,739 in every 10,000 31,642 -
Leeds
Yorkshire and Humber · 4,330 in every 10,000 26,737 -
Barnet
London · 4,599 in every 10,000 25,866 -
Redbridge
London · 5,325 in every 10,000 22,700 -
Harrow
London · 5,594 in every 10,000 22,218 -
Bromley
London · 5,111 in every 10,000 21,767 -
North Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 2,680 in every 10,000 20,165 -
Brent
London · 4,160 in every 10,000 17,613 -
Ealing
London · 4,239 in every 10,000 17,604 -
City of Bradford
Yorkshire and Humber · 4,174 in every 10,000 17,409
Latest house extension applications
- 5 Derwent Place Sprotbrough Doncaster Erection of a two storey side extension to add a bedroom with en-suite - DRAFT
- 11 Amberton Place Gipton Leeds 6.00m single storey rear extension, 3.50m to ridge height and 2.70m to eaves
- 1 Bruntsfield Avenue Kilwinning North Ayrshire Erection of single storey extension to rear of detached dwelling house
- Shieldbrae House Burnhouse Road Auldhouse Erection of single storey rear extension and associated alterations (Certificate of lawfulness - Proposed)
- 2 Fleming Way Biggar Erection of single storey extension to rear of dwelling house and associated external alterations
- 28 Home Drive Yeovil Somerset Demolition of the existing rear double storey bay and lean-to utility room and Erection of rear extensions and internal alterations
Questions
How many house extension planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 2,010,768 since January 2016, 129,435 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to September 2021.
Which councils receive the most house extension applications?
Birmingham, Leeds and Barnet have received the most since 2016.
Do house extensions need planning permission?
In England a single-storey rear extension is permitted development up to 4 metres deep on a detached house and 3 metres on others. Up to 8 and 6 metres is allowed with a larger home extension prior approval, except in conservation areas and national parks.
Why does an extension to a flat need an application?
Householder permitted development rights in England apply to dwellinghouses, and the General Permitted Development Order defines a dwellinghouse to exclude a building containing flats. Every extension to a flat or maisonette therefore needs a planning 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
These figures count full applications, larger home extension prior approvals under Part 1 Class A, and certificates, for extending a house or flat. Extensions within permitted development limits need no application. Flats have no householder permitted development rights.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names house extensions 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 a random sample of the house extension applications counted here against what the topic's name means, and compare the counts with published figures where they exist.
- 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 house extension 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 11 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
- Part 1, Class A of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 sets the rear extension limits of 4 and 3 metres, and 8 and 6 metres with prior approval under paragraph A.4. legislation.gov.uk
- Article 2(1) of the Order defines a dwellinghouse to exclude a building containing one or more flats, or a flat within one. legislation.gov.uk