Sauna planning trends
The sauna planning index stands at 981, the highest since 2016: saunas take nearly ten times their 2016 share of planning applications.
Sauna applications since 2016
Sauna applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredSlow for years, then a sharp climb
Councils received 71 sauna applications in 2016 and 151 in 2023. The count then rose to 219 in 2024 and 341 in 2025. The 12-month total reached 482 in September 2026, against 133 in the year to September 2023.
Scotland leads
From 2023 to 2025 Scotland received 11 sauna applications in every 10,000, against 5.1 across the UK. Northern Ireland followed on 7.5 and the South West on 7.1. The North West was lowest, on 1.8. Highland has received the most since 2016, with 59.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 123 sauna applications in Q3 2026: 12 in every 10,000 applications, against 7.2 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 65% higher than a year earlier.
Sauna applications each quarter
123 in Q3 2026, against 79 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 12 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 7.2 a year earlier.
Where sauna applications concentrate
By region
Sauna applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Highland
Scotland · 16 in every 10,000 59 -
Cornwall
South West · 4.4 in every 10,000 35 -
North Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 4.3 in every 10,000 32 -
Brighton and Hove
South East · 9.4 in every 10,000 30 -
Perth and Kinross
Scotland · 15 in every 10,000 28 -
South Downs National Park
South East · 8.2 in every 10,000 27 -
Dorset
South West · 4.6 in every 10,000 24 -
Fife
Scotland · 8.2 in every 10,000 23 -
Havering
London · 7.1 in every 10,000 22 -
Cotswold
South West · 10 in every 10,000 21
Latest sauna applications
- Shawbrae Shawpark Road Selkirk Scottish Borders Erection of sauna and storage outbuilding
- 175, Ightenhill Park Lane, Burnley Change of use of land to an outdoor sauna and wellness retreat (use class: Sui Generis), with the siting and timber cladding of a metal container, 2 no. trailer mounted sauna units, changing cubicles, WCs, shower units, a bin store, hardstanding's and setting out of car parking spaces.
- Sea Cadet Corps Royal Parade Eastbourne East Sussex Subdivision and conversion of part of ground floor to form sauna and ice bath facility with associated ancillary facilities, external alterations including new windows and doors to ground floor, relocation of roller shutter to rear, external staircase with enclosure to side, AC Ventilation unit to side and installation of signage (Advertisement Consent 260582)
- Harbour Car Park, Maryport Marina, Maryport Change of Use of part of harbour car park to mixed use leisure to site wood fire sauna
- The Lodge, Staylittle, Llanbrynmair Installation of a prefabricated outdoor sauna on a concrete base and associated works
- 7 Newbattle Terrace Morningside Edinburgh Install a movable barrel sauna and cold plunge tub in the rear of a listed building.
Questions
How many sauna planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 1,848 since January 2016, 482 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share of all applications is the highest since 2016.
Which councils receive the most sauna applications?
Highland, Cornwall and North Yorkshire have received the most since 2016.
Are sauna applications rising or falling?
Rising. In the year to September 2026 saunas took more than four times their share of applications of three years earlier, the highest since 2016. The British Sauna Society counted 45 public saunas in 2023 and 147 by March 2025, the Associated Press reported.
Why do so few garden saunas need planning permission?
In England a garden sauna counts as an outbuilding, which is usually permitted development within limits on height, position and garden coverage. Saunas at listed buildings, in front gardens and on some designated land need permission, so those reach councils more often.
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
Most garden saunas in England are permitted development, so these figures count saunas that needed an application, such as those on protected sites, larger buildings and commercial schemes.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names saunas 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.
- Removals are taken out: every matching application is classified, and those that would remove or demolish saunas, or change them to another use, are not counted. The figures follow applications that add, extend or alter them.
- How matches are checked: we read a random sample of the sauna 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 sauna 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
- In England a garden sauna is an outbuilding usually covered by permitted development, within limits on height, siting and garden coverage, with permission needed for listed buildings, front gardens and some positions on designated land. planningportal.co.uk
- The British Sauna Society counted 45 public sauna sites in the UK in 2023 and 147 by March 2025 (Associated Press, carried by Euronews, 13 March 2025). euronews.com