New bungalow planning trends
Councils received 797 applications to build bungalows in the 12 months to September 2026, against 2,200 in 2016.
New bungalow applications since 2016
New bungalow applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredFewer, and a smaller share
New bungalows made up 35 in every 10,000 applications in 2016 and 19 in 2025. Over 12 months the count is 34% down on three years earlier and the share 24%. The new bungalow planning index stands at 52.
Builders register fewer too
The National House-Building Council registered 1,505 bungalows in 2025, 38% fewer than the 2,445 in 2015. Bungalows were 1.3% of the new homes it registered in 2024/25.
Highest in the East Midlands and the East of England
From 2023 to 2025, the East Midlands had 40 new bungalow applications in every 10,000 and the East of England 40, against 21 across the UK. Scotland had 1.8, the lowest.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 221 new bungalow applications in Q3 2026: 21 in every 10,000 applications, against 19 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 12% higher than a year earlier.
New bungalow applications each quarter
221 in Q3 2026, against 209 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 21 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 19 a year earlier.
Where new bungalow applications concentrate
By region
New bungalow applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
South West · 117 in every 10,000 420 -
Cornwall
South West · 40 in every 10,000 306 -
Tendring
East of England · 211 in every 10,000 288 -
North Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 37 in every 10,000 247 -
Dorset
South West · 48 in every 10,000 234 -
Central Bedfordshire
East of England · 82 in every 10,000 233 -
South Norfolk and Broadland (shared register)
East of England · 80 in every 10,000 225 -
East Suffolk
East of England · 75 in every 10,000 210 -
East Lindsey
East Midlands · 153 in every 10,000 200 -
Shropshire
West Midlands · 56 in every 10,000 180
Latest new bungalow applications
- 31-35 Carrington Lane, Milford-on-Sea Sever land and erect x3 bungalows with access from Smugglers Way
- 53 Stratton Heights Stratton Cirencester Gloucestershire Erection of a detached bungalow, including soft and hard landscaping
- 18 Heath Lane Earl Shilton Leicester Leicestershire Demolition of an existing garage and the construction of a new dormer bungalow
- Land South Of 2 Chibburn Court Mile Road Widdrington Station Northumberland Erection of 1 no. bungalow (C3 use)
- Land At, Oaklands Mile Road Widdrington Station Morpeth Northumberland Erection of one detached dormer bungalow with associated access, turning area, parking, landscaping and garden.
- Land at NGR 271127 112637 (Tower Meadow) Chawleigh Devon Erection of a bungalow with associated works
Questions
How many new bungalow planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 16,457 since January 2016, 797 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to June 2018.
Which councils receive the most new bungalow applications?
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Cornwall and Tendring have received the most since 2016.
Does building a bungalow need planning permission?
Yes. A new home needs planning permission. In England a small site can first get permission in principle, which settles the site and the amount of housing, and then needs technical details consent before work starts.
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 whose main proposal is to build a bungalow, or to convert a barn, garage or other building into one. Extensions and other works to an existing bungalow are left out.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names new bungalows 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 new bungalow 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 new bungalow 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.