Parcel locker planning trends
Parcel lockers' share of planning applications was 15 times that of three years earlier in the 12 months to September 2026, the highest since 2016.
Parcel locker applications since 2016
Parcel locker applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredFrom 79 a year to 451 in nine months
Councils received 79 parcel locker applications in 2023, 185 in 2024 and 325 in 2025. January to September 2026 brought 451. The rise coincides with operator expansion: InPost said in June 2026 that its UK network had passed 15,000 lockers.
Where councils asked for them
From 2023 to 2025 the North East had 23 locker applications in every 10,000, against 4.3 across the UK. Most were InPost applying retrospectively where a council asked: 57 of the region's 73 came from Newcastle. Regional figures show council practice more than demand.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 194 parcel locker applications in Q3 2026: 19 in every 10,000 applications, against 8.8 in Q3 2025, 2.1 times the share of a year earlier.
Parcel locker applications each quarter
194 in Q3 2026, against 96 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 19 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 8.8 a year earlier.
Where parcel locker applications concentrate
By region
Parcel locker applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Newcastle
North East · 63 in every 10,000 93 -
Stockport
North West · 39 in every 10,000 93 -
Fife
Scotland · 18 in every 10,000 49 -
Bromley
London · 11 in every 10,000 46 -
Trafford
North West · 16 in every 10,000 35 -
Fenland
East of England · 39 in every 10,000 32 -
Bexley
London · 11 in every 10,000 28 -
Blaby
East Midlands · 36 in every 10,000 27 -
Darlington
North East · 36 in every 10,000 26 -
North Kesteven
East Midlands · 22 in every 10,000 21
Latest parcel locker applications
- 40 Deacons Road Kilsyth North Lanarkshire Retrospective Change of Use of Open Land to Yard Area, Siting of 4no. Storage Containers and Siting of Two Separate Parcel Lockers
- Aldi West Denton Way, West Denton, Newcastle Upon Tyne Siting of an InPost Parcel Locker to the North Elevation (Retrospective).
- Nisalocal, 218 - 220 Wallasey Village, Wallasey Village, Wallasey, Wirral Application for a planning permission on a retrospective basis for siting an InPost Parcel Locker
- 102 St Peters Street Lowestoft Suffolk Retrospective Application - Siting an InPost Parcel Locker
- Broom Lane Post Office, 78 Broom Lane Broom Siting of a InPost parcel locker
- Camberley Spiritualist Church 112 Gordon Road Camberley Surrey Installation of parcel locker (retrospective).
Questions
How many parcel locker planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 1,325 since January 2016, 584 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share of all applications is the highest since 2016.
Where are the most parcel lockers being proposed?
Newcastle, Stockport and Fife have received the most since 2016.
Why do some parcel lockers need planning permission and others do not?
In England a shop can put one collection facility in its curtilage, up to 20 square metres and 4 metres high, after applying to the council for prior approval. Lockers on pavements, at stations or in car parks away from shops usually need full permission.
Are parcel locker applications ever refused?
Yes. Scottish Borders Council refused a retrospective application for a locker in a Peebles conservation area, the Border Telegraph reported, and East Renfrewshire Council refused lockers outside a shop in Neilston, according to the Barrhead News.
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 April 2015 shops in England have been able to put one collection facility within their own curtilage without full planning permission, after applying to the council for prior approval. These figures count the applications councils record.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names parcel lockers 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 parcel locker 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
- InPost said in June 2026 that its UK network had passed 15,000 lockers. trans.info
- Since 15 April 2015 shops in England have been able to install click and collect facilities without full planning permission, subject to prior approval from the council. gov.uk
- Class C of Part 7 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 allows one collection facility within the curtilage of a shop, up to 20 square metres, 4 metres high and 2 metres from the boundary, excluding article 2(3) land, SSSIs and the curtilage of a listed building or scheduled monument, subject to prior approval from the council. legislation.gov.uk
- Scottish Borders Council refused a retrospective application for an InPost locker in a Peebles conservation area. bordertelegraph.com
- East Renfrewshire Council refused InPost parcel lockers outside a shop in Neilston. barrheadnews.com