Banbury approves 94% of planning applications. It refuses just 1 in 17.
Cherwell District Council received 1,472 planning applications within the Banbury area in 2025 and approved 94% of those with a decision. Only 6% were refused, about 1 in 17, against a national refusal rate of 12.4%. That makes permission notably easier to get here than across the country as a whole. No single project category stands out far above the national norm, so the headline is the verdict, not the project mix.
The year in one line
Banbury's applications to Cherwell ran at 94% approval in 2025, well above the 87.6% national rate, with refusals at just 6%, about 1 in 17 against the national 1 in 8.
What Banbury Is Building
Extensions lead a mix that tracks the national norm.
Home extensions were the most common application type submitted to Cherwell in 2025, at 20.7% of the total, noticeably below the 29.1% national share. Demolition applications followed at 4.9%, outbuildings at 4.0%, and retrospective applications, work submitted after it was built, at 4.0%. No single project type stands out far above the national rate. The distinctive feature of Banbury's planning year is not what was proposed but how consistently the council said yes.
Applications submitted to Cherwell in 2025 within the Banbury area, by project type.
Close to the norm
No robust project category in Banbury runs well above the national rate. The mix is ordinary; the headline is the approval rate, which sits more than 6 points above the national average.
The council verdict
A reliable yes, consistently given.
Across 2024 and 2025, Cherwell approved 94% of the 2,680 decided Banbury applications and refused 6%, about half the national refusal rate. Refusals ran at roughly 1 in 17, against the national rate of about 1 in 8. The high pass rate is stable across both years, not a one-year blip.
About 1 in 17 Banbury applications was turned down.
of decided applications were approved, against an 87.6% national rate. Refusals ran at just 6%, about half the national figure.
Banbury vs The National Norm
An ordinary mix, an easier verdict.
Set Banbury's application mix against the national average and most categories sit well below the norm. Home extensions are the largest gap, at 20.7% against 29.1% nationally. Demolition runs at 4.9% against 9.1% nationally. The town also does far less roof work than the country as a whole: dormers run at 2.5% against 6.0% nationally and loft conversions at 1.3% against 2.6%. Outbuildings are the one category running slightly above national share, at 4.0% against 3.2%.
Banbury's refusal rate, about half the 12.4% national figure. On a conventional project mix, the council says no far less often than the country as a whole.
Each bar is Banbury's share of applications submitted to Cherwell; the marker is the national share. Most categories run below the norm.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices rose alongside the building work.
Permission may be easier to win here, but prices have kept climbing: the average Banbury home cost more in the latest full year than the one before.
Banbury's planning data tells a clear story. The town submits a broadly ordinary mix of applications, but Cherwell approves 94% of them and refuses only about 1 in 17, well below the national refusal rate. For anyone planning work in the Banbury area, the odds of a yes are strong.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Cherwell District Council in 2025 within the Banbury area, classified from each application's published description. Shares and rates are computed over the pooled 2024-2025 window for stability.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals. The national benchmarks are computed the same way across all decided applications in England and Wales.
Sales Data
HM Land Registry Price Paid Data for the Banbury post town, the latest full year's completions, with growth measured against the previous year.
The Real Applications
Open the planning applications behind the numbers.
These are real applications decided in Banbury in the latest full year, from extensions and conversions to a pair of refusals. Open any one to see its full record.
38 Hart Close OX16 1EH
A single-storey side extension and a garage conversion to create a day room were approved, the kind of household project Cherwell grants most.
See this property's full record13 Trinity Close OX16 0UA
A dormer addition to convert loft space into habitable rooms was granted, one of the roof projects the town does less often than the national norm.
See this property's full record6 Meadow Drive, Middleton Cheney OX17 2PT
Listed-building consent was given to replace single-glazed windows with double glazing on a protected home.
See this property's full record26 Buckhurst Close OX16 1JT
A retrospective application for an outbuilding already erected was approved, one of 120 after-the-fact filings submitted to Cherwell in 2025.
See this property's full recordTinkle Cottage The Green, Adderbury OX17 3NG
A plan to fell four protected yew trees and replace them with other species was turned down, one of the roughly 1 in 17 applications the council refused.
See this property's full record45 Easington Road OX16 9HJ
A proposal to widen a vehicle access with an associated dropped kerb was refused, a rare no in a council area that approves 94% of applications.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Banbury?
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