Planning permission in Leeds
What actually happens to planning applications decided by Leeds City Council: approval rates, decision times, appeal odds and the development plan they are judged against. Figures cover 11,908 applications decided in the two years to July 2026, from the council's public planning register.
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How long does planning permission take in Leeds?
Half of decided applications took 52 days or less from validation to decision. The middle 50% of applications took between 39 and 57 days, and 74.0% were decided inside the 8-week statutory target for minor applications. Complex or contested schemes take longer.
The Leeds local plan
There is no single Leeds local plan: the development plan is the Core Strategy (2014, updated 2019) with the Site Allocations Plan (2019, amended 2024), the Natural Resources and Waste plan, the Aire Valley area action plan and around 25 made neighbourhood plans.
A new Leeds Local Plan is at an early scoping stage in 2026 after the previous Local Plan Update was folded into it; no draft policies yet carry weight.
What tends to shape decisions here: Leeds can demonstrate a comfortable housing land supply (over six years, with strong delivery), so the tilted balance rarely assists appellants. Green Belt matters are governed largely by national policy, and the large stock of neighbourhood plans matters on infill sites.
If Leeds says no: appeal odds
Between 2021 and 2025 the Planning Inspectorate overturned 27.6% of appealed Leeds refusals (265 of 960 decided appeals). The national average is 31.1%. More detail, including how Leeds ranks nationally: planning appeals in Leeds.
Source: decisions published on the Leeds City Council public planning register, two years to July 2026. Approval rate = approvals divided by approvals plus refusals; withdrawn applications and other outcomes are excluded. We track 43,882 Leeds applications in total. Plan facts as of July 2026; always check the council's own pages for the latest position.
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