According to government data, despite planning applications falling by a quarter, the last 10 years has seen the percentage of successful grants grow from 82% to 88%.
Total planning applications have dropped since the economic crash of 2007, but better planning guidance and a relaxation of planning rules are seeing more applications granted than ever before. In the year ending 31st March 2017 there were 18 places in England where 100% of major development applications were accepted, including in North York Moors National Park, Halton, Adur, and Lincoln.
During the same period, the least likely place to get a major planning application granted was Epsom and Ewell where just 38.46% were granted. Spelthorne (50%) and Bournemouth (52.08%) also saw a low success rate.
The data was uncovered by Pure Commercial Finance, a brokerage which specialises in financing commercial projects as part of its campaign to help investors know more about the development process.