Why applications are refused
Nearly half of 434 refusal notices for new homes, from 53 councils, cite missing or insufficient information. Design and character comes next, in 46%.
Share of notices citing each reason
Most notices give several reasons, and one reason can raise more than one issue, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
How this is measuredBigger schemes are refused on more grounds
A refused scheme of 50 or more homes gives 4.4 reasons on average, against 2.1 for a single home. That lifts every share in the larger columns.
| Reason | 1 home95 notices | 2-9 homes245 notices | 10-49 homes56 notices | 50+ homes38 notices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insufficient information | 39% | 45% | 70% | 63% |
| Design and character | 32% | 47% | 57% | 55% |
| Living standards for future occupiers | 24% | 47% | 36% | 18% |
| Highways and parking | 23% | 32% | 36% | 45% |
| Ecology and trees | 23% | 22% | 45% | 42% |
| Principle and settlement policy | 20% | 18% | 27% | 71% |
| Heritage | 18% | 19% | 30% | 24% |
| No s106 / unsecured contributions | 7% | 14% | 46% | 47% |
What "insufficient information" means
The applicant has to show a council that a scheme is acceptable, with evidence such as a flood risk assessment or an ecology survey. When that evidence is missing at the deadline, the notice says it "has not been demonstrated" that the impact is acceptable.
Such a reason records that the impact was not shown to be acceptable; it is not a finding of harm. Each names its subject, such as flood risk, and is counted under that subject too. The commonest are design and character, ecology and trees, highways and parking, living standards for future occupiers, principle and settlement policy.
Information gaps are commoner in larger refused schemes: 39% of single-home notices cite one, against 63% for 50 or more homes.
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
Notes on the charts
- Share of notices in each size band citing the reason. The eight most cited reasons are shown.
The 53 councils and their notices
- Chichester 18
- Fenland 18
- Lambeth 18
- Mid Devon 17
- Bolton 16
- Ealing 16
- Uttlesford 15
- East Lothian 15
- Lancaster 14
- Cotswold 14
- Isle of Wight 13
- Spelthorne 13
- Bradford 12
- Rutland 12
- Wyre 12
- Croydon 11
- Enfield 11
- Greenwich 11
- East Cambridgeshire 10
- East Suffolk 10
- Sheffield 10
- Thurrock 10
- West Lancashire 10
- Guildford 9
- Oldham 9
- South Kesteven 9
- Tower Hamlets 9
- Wigan 9
- Test Valley 8
- Brentwood 8
- Newham 8
- Tunbridge Wells 8
- Medway 7
- Winchester 7
- Basingstoke 6
- East Hertfordshire 5
- Newark and Sherwood 3
- Bromsgrove and Redditch (shared service) 3
- Hertsmere 3
- South Staffordshire 2
- Blaby 2
- Somerset (Mendip area) 2
- Cornwall 1
- King's Lynn and West Norfolk 1
- Orkney Islands 1
- Perth and Kinross 1
- Rushcliffe 1
- Oxford 1
- Wakefield 1
- Dacorum 1
- Warwick 1
- West Oxfordshire 1
- West Suffolk 1
- The sample: 434 refused applications for one or more new homes, submitted in 2024 and 2025 and decided between February 2024 and May 2026, chosen across four scheme sizes.
- It covers 53 councils, 50 in England and 3 in Scotland. Each council and its number of notices is listed above.
- Only the council's decision notice is used, so the reasons are the council's own. Appeal decisions and officer reports are set aside.
- Classification: a language model sorted each numbered reason into a fixed list of reasons. A sample was checked by hand against the original notices, and every classification checked was confirmed.
- A notice records the council's grounds at the time of the decision.
- Weighting every council equally, insufficient information is still the reason cited most.