Self storage planning trends
The self storage planning index stands at 415, the highest since 2016: self storage takes four times its 2016 share of planning applications.
Self storage applications since 2016
Self storage applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredFour times the 2016 share
Councils received 238 self storage applications in the 12 months to September 2026, against 83 in 2016. Self storage's share of applications is 40% higher than three years earlier and the highest since 2016.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 63 self storage applications in Q3 2026: 6.1 in every 10,000 applications, against 4.7 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 31% higher than a year earlier.
Self storage applications each quarter
63 in Q3 2026, against 51 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 6.1 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 4.7 a year earlier.
Where self storage applications concentrate
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Wiltshire
South West · 6.0 in every 10,000 34 -
South Norfolk and Broadland (shared register)
East of England · 10 in every 10,000 29 -
Hounslow
London · 6.3 in every 10,000 20 -
Birmingham
West Midlands · 3.0 in every 10,000 19 -
Somerset
South West · 3.1 in every 10,000 18 -
Westmorland and Furness
North West · 8.9 in every 10,000 18 -
Durham
North East · 6.2 in every 10,000 17 -
Huntingdonshire
East of England · 9.0 in every 10,000 17 -
North Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 2.5 in every 10,000 17 -
Blackpool
North West · 28 in every 10,000 16
Latest self storage applications
- Kingholm Quay Business Park Kingholm Road Dumfries Erection of building containing 4 commercial units, siting of 6 self storage containers and formation of new access
- Site Of The Former Ardchoille Hotel Ardchoille Lane Stevenston North Ayrshire Formation of Self Storage Facility
- Eastgate Willenhall Road Wolverhampton West Midlands Additional floor above existing retail/office premises to create commercial secure self-storage facility and to include additions to facilitate lift and stair access.
- Land To The North Of Fengate Drove, Weeting, Brandon The development of land to provide a self-storage park (Use Class B8), comprising 51 self-storage container units (a mix of 10ft, 20ft and 40ft containers), an office/kiosk structure, perimeter fencing, a sliding entrance gate, associated hardstanding, landscaping and drainage provision, to be known as Eco Park Self Storage (Schedule 1)
- Land To The East Of Keighley Road Silsden Keighley Construction of commercial buildings to provide self-storage facilities
- Oak House Reeds Crescent Watford Retrospective - part change of use of part of the existing basement car park to self-storage use (Use Class B8), including the retention and use of six storage containers for a temporary period of three years from the date of planning permission.
Questions
How many self storage planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 1,676 since January 2016, 238 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share of all applications is the highest since 2016.
Where are the most self storage applications being proposed?
Wiltshire, South Norfolk and Broadland (shared register) and Hounslow have received the most since 2016.
How many self storage sites are there in the UK?
The Self Storage Association UK counted 3,143 stores in its 2026 annual industry report, with containers making up 40% of new openings. These figures count planning applications, so they measure proposals rather than sites.
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
Some farm buildings in England can change to storage use by prior approval rather than a full planning application.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names self storage 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 self storage 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 self storage 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.