Home improvements
The home improvements planning index stands at 91, 9% below 2016, held down by house extensions; air conditioning and saunas are at record shares.
91Planning index (2016 = 100)9% below its 2016 share
down 1%Change in shareQ3 2026 against Q3 2025
33,489Applications, Q3 2026every council we hold
149,369Applications, past 12 monthsall councils, October 2025 to September 2026
In brief
- Air conditioning's share of applications rose 72% in Q3 2026, with 827 applications. Over 12 months it is 48% above three years earlier.
- Saunas drew 485 applications in the 12 months to September 2026, 4 times their share three years earlier. Ice baths drew 67.
- House extensions, the largest topic, drew 129,411 applications in the 12 months to September 2026; loft conversions drew 13,587.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
By topic
| Topic | Applications | Share, Q3 2025 | Share, Q3 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| House extensions | 28,639 | 2,864 | 2,785 | down 3% |
| Loft conversions | 3,049 | 287 | 297 | up 3% |
| Annexes | 1,348 | 144 | 131 | down 9% |
| Garden offices | 868 | 78 | 84 | up 8% |
| Air conditioning | 827 | 47 | 80 | up 72% |
| Swimming pools | 295 | 29 | 29 | 0% |
| Saunas | 124 | 7.4 | 12 | up 63% |
| Hot tubs | 43 | 3.7 | 4.2 | up 12% |
| Ice baths | 20 | 0.8 | 1.9 | Under 40 |
Applications in Q3 2026. Share is the number in every 10,000 applications.
Out of every 10,000 applications
All 9 topics together: 3,257 in every 10,000 applications in Q3 2026, against 3,302 a year earlier.
Topics in this theme
House extensions
129,411 applications in the past year
down 14% in share since 2016
Planning index 86
Loft conversions
13,587 applications in the past year
up 10% in share since 2016
Planning index 110
Annexes
5,740 applications in the past year
up 40% in share since 2016
Planning index 140
Garden offices
3,484 applications in the past year
up 2.3 times in share since 2016
Planning index 232
Air conditioning
2,484 applications in the past year
up 66% in share since 2016
Planning index 166
Swimming pools
1,232 applications in the past year
up 39% in share since 2016
Planning index 139
Saunas
485 applications in the past year
up 9 times in share since 2016
Planning index 923
Hot tubs
158 applications in the past year
up 2.9 times in share since 2016
Planning index 289
Ice baths
67 applications in the past year
up 26 times in share since 2023
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 9 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.