Petrol station planning trends
Petrol station applications more than halved between 2017 and 2023; the 12 months to September 2026 brought 144, a share 37% above three years earlier.
Petrol station applications since 2016
Petrol station applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredFrom 355 a year to 133, and part way back
Councils received 355 petrol station applications in 2017 and 133 in 2023. The count rose to 205 in 2024. Their share peaked in the 12 months to May 2018. The petrol station planning index stands at 65: about two thirds of the 2016 share.
Northern Ireland at more than five times the UK share
From 2023 to 2025, petrol stations made up 19 in every 10,000 applications in Northern Ireland, against 3.5 across the UK. London was lowest at 0.7. Leeds leads all councils with 38 since 2016, followed by Belfast on 37 and North Yorkshire on 35.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 34 petrol station applications in Q3 2026, too few to compare their share with a year earlier.
Petrol station applications each quarter
34 in Q3 2026, against 40 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 3.3 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 3.7 a year earlier.
Where petrol station applications concentrate
By region
Petrol station applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Leeds
Yorkshire and Humber · 6.4 in every 10,000 38 -
Belfast
Northern Ireland · 22 in every 10,000 37 -
North Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 5.2 in every 10,000 35 -
Cornwall
South West · 4.4 in every 10,000 34 -
Antrim and Newtownabbey
Northern Ireland · 42 in every 10,000 33 -
Glasgow
Scotland · 12 in every 10,000 32 -
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
Northern Ireland · 23 in every 10,000 31 -
Newry, Mourne and Down
Northern Ireland · 20 in every 10,000 31 -
Mid Ulster
Northern Ireland · 20 in every 10,000 29 -
Cheshire East
North West · 6.6 in every 10,000 25
Latest petrol station applications
- 91 Main Street, Gortin Forecourt canopy to existing filling station and shop
- Land 100M NW Of 10 Bealach Nan Ciobairean Home Farm Cearn An Leth-Uillt Portree Isle Of Skye Erection of foodstore, filling station, formation of access(s), parking and drainage
- Land North East Of JLR Stockton Portrack Lane Stockton-on-Tees Erection of a petrol filling station and ancillary retail kiosk including all associated works
- Stewart Longton Caravans Bengal Street Chorley Erection of petrol filling station, car wash and associated infrastructure following demolition of existing buildings
- The Tavern On The Hill 761 Wigan Road Bolton Demolition of public house/restaurant together with erection of petrol filling station and drive-thru coffee shop comprising of EV charging points and associated works
- Land Off Swaffham Road, Narborough, Norfolk Construction of roadside service area comprising petrol filling station with ancillary shop; 2no. drive through units (Class E / sui generis hot food takeaway) and Electric Vehicle (EV) charging provision together with new vehicular access and servicing arrangements; parking; landscaping and associated works - Schedule 2
Questions
How many petrol station planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 2,338 since January 2016, 144 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to May 2018.
Where are the most petrol station applications being proposed?
Leeds, Belfast and North Yorkshire have received the most since 2016.
Do these figures show new petrol stations being built?
No. An application is a proposal, and approval is not construction. Many describe work at existing forecourts, such as a new canopy or shop, or the redevelopment of a closed station.
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 include schemes that redevelop or convert an existing forecourt as well as proposals for new petrol stations.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names petrol stations 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 petrol station 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 petrol station 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.