In decline
7 of the 8 topics here take a smaller share than in 2016 and three years earlier, new bungalows and tanning salons among them.
79Planning index (2016 = 100)21% below its 2016 share
down 3%Change in shareQ3 2026 against Q3 2025
3,949Applications, Q3 2026every council we hold
17,560Applications, past 12 monthsall councils, October 2025 to September 2026
In brief
- Conservatories made up 14,434 of the theme's 17,560 applications in the year to September 2026, a share 3% below three years earlier.
- New bungalows drew 797 applications in 12 months, against 2,200 in 2016; tanning salons drew 32, against 84.
- Satellite dishes and basements fell furthest, 36% and 30% below their shares three years earlier.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
By topic
| Topic | Applications | Share, Q3 2025 | Share, Q3 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservatories | 3,237 | 317 | 315 | down 1% |
| Orangeries | 172 | 21 | 17 | down 21% |
| Basements | 160 | 23 | 16 | down 32% |
| New bungalows | 221 | 19 | 21 | up 12% |
| Cash machines | 168 | 17 | 16 | down 5% |
| Post offices | 21 | 1.3 | 2.0 | Under 40 |
| Satellite dishes | 16 | 2.4 | 1.6 | Under 40 |
| Tanning salons | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Under 40 |
Applications in Q3 2026. Share is the number in every 10,000 applications.
Out of every 10,000 applications
All 8 topics together: 384 in every 10,000 applications in Q3 2026, against 395 a year earlier.
Topics in this theme
Conservatories
14,434 applications in the past year
down 8% in share since 2016
Planning index 92
Orangeries
831 applications in the past year
down 29% in share since 2016
Planning index 71
Basements
815 applications in the past year
down 56% in share since 2016
Planning index 44
New bungalows
797 applications in the past year
down 48% in share since 2016
Planning index 52
Cash machines
778 applications in the past year
down 54% in share since 2016
Planning index 46
Post offices
77 applications in the past year
down 57% in share since 2016
Planning index 43
Satellite dishes
59 applications in the past year
down 80% in share since 2016
Planning index 20
Tanning salons
32 applications in the past year
down 45% in share since 2016
Planning index 55
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 8 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.