Hundreds of thousands of new homes a year are needed in England to keep up with demand but the latest official figures shows that overall planning applications and permissions are down. Planning applications in England reached 117,700 from July to September 2017, down 2% compared with the third quarter of 2016. The data also shows that some 98,800 decisions were granted, down 3% in the third quarter of 2017 and unchanged on the same quarter of 2016. Overall some 88% of major planning applications were granted within 13 weeks or the agreed time, up from 85% a year earlier. Some 12,500 residential applications were granted in the third quarter, down 3% compared with the same period in 2016. Of these 1,600 were for major developments and 10,900 for minor developments. There were 2,600 applications for commercial developments granted, down 11% on a year earlier and 10,400 applications received for prior approval for permitted development rights, down 5% from the same quarter of 2016. Of these, 1,500 applications were for changes to residential use, of which 1,000 were approved without having to go through the full planning process, the figures also show. In the 12 months to September 2017, district level planning authorities granted 380,700 decisions, in line with the figure for the year ending September 2016. Some 49,700 decisions were made on residential developments of which 6,600 were for major developments and 43,100 for minor projects, up 6% and 2% respectively on the year ending September 2016. Some 10,500 applications were granted for commercial developments, down 6% on the year ending September 2016.
Demand for new homes is not being met across England, with planning applications and grants both down in 2017 compared with 2016, official figures have shown. The number of people on waiting lists to buy a home fell by more than half last year from the previous year, according to government figures. Meanwhile, 98,800 permissions were granted, which was down 3% on Q3 2016. For commercial developments, 2,600 applications were granted, down 11% on a year earlier and for residential developments, 12,500 applications were granted in Q3, down 3% compared with the same period in 2016.