Energy and climate
Energy and climate applications took a 14% larger share of all planning applications in Q3 2026 than a year earlier.
518Planning index (2016 = 100)About 5.2 times its 2016 share
up 14%Change in shareQ3 2026 against Q3 2025
4,970Applications, Q3 2026every council we hold
19,498Applications, past 12 monthsall councils, October 2025 to September 2026
In brief
- The energy and climate planning index stands at 518: about 5.2 times the 2016 share, below its peak of 539 in December 2024.
- In Q3 2026, battery storage's share of applications rose 32% on a year earlier, EV charging 39%, heat pumps 29%, solar panels 19%.
- Substations' share fell 8% in Q3 2026. Solar farms drew 54 in 12 months, 63% below their share three years earlier.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
By topic
| Topic | Applications | Share, Q3 2025 | Share, Q3 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar panels | 2,737 | 224 | 266 | up 19% |
| Heat pumps | 1,234 | 93 | 120 | up 29% |
| EV charging | 709 | 50 | 69 | up 39% |
| Wall insulation and retrofit | 333 | 42 | 32 | down 23% |
| Substations | 247 | 26 | 24 | down 8% |
| Battery storage | 294 | 22 | 29 | up 32% |
| Sustainable drainage | 139 | 11 | 14 | up 26% |
| Green roofs | 83 | 7.8 | 8.1 | up 4% |
| Wind turbines | 31 | 4.6 | 3.0 | Under 40 |
| Solar shading | 22 | 1.2 | 2.1 | Under 40 |
| Solar farms | 7 | 6.5 | 0.7 | Under 40 |
Applications in Q3 2026. Share is the number in every 10,000 applications.
Out of every 10,000 applications
All 11 topics together: 483 in every 10,000 applications in Q3 2026, against 425 a year earlier.
Topics in this theme
Solar panels
10,481 applications in the past year
up 10 times in share since 2016
Planning index 1,029
Heat pumps
4,305 applications in the past year
up 9 times in share since 2016
Planning index 917
EV charging
2,648 applications in the past year
up 22 times in share since 2016
Planning index 2,226
Wall insulation and retrofit
1,632 applications in the past year
up 52% in share since 2016
Planning index 152
Substations
1,037 applications in the past year
up 97% in share since 2016
Planning index 197
Battery storage
903 applications in the past year
up 12 times in share since 2016
Planning index 1,232
Sustainable drainage
616 applications in the past year
up 2.9 times in share since 2016
Planning index 291
Green roofs
399 applications in the past year
up 2.5 times in share since 2016
Planning index 254
Wind turbines
197 applications in the past year
up 15% in share since 2016
Planning index 115
Solar shading
72 applications in the past year
up 3 times in share since 2016
Planning index 306
Solar farms
54 applications in the past year
up 3 times in share since 2016
Planning index 312
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
- The theme's planning index: the applications for its 11 topics over the previous 12 months, as a share of all applications, with the 2016 share set at 100.
- Each application counts once in a theme, even when it names two of the theme's topics, so the topics can add up to more than the theme.
- Topics: each counts applications whose description names it, or a close variant of the words. Each topic's matches were checked one by one, by reading its 200 most recent applications and 20 from every year since 2016. Topics count planning applications, not completed schemes. The largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- 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.
- 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.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.