Cambridge grants 94.5% of planning applications, nearly 7 points above the national rate.
Cambridge Council received 2,720 planning applications in 2025 and, across decisions made in 2024 and 2025, approved 94.5% of those decided, against a national rate of 87.6%. Refusals ran at just 5.5%, about 1 in 18, compared with 1 in 8 nationally. The project mix is led by home extensions and closely tracks national norms. Cambridge is one of the more permissive planning authorities in England.
The year in one line
Cambridge approves 94.5% of planning decisions, nearly 7 points above the national norm of 87.6%, and refuses only 1 in 18 applications compared with 1 in 8 nationally.
What Cambridge Is Building
Extensions lead a mix that closely tracks the national average.
Home extensions were the most common application type submitted to Cambridge Council, at 20.6% of all applications, below the 29.1% national norm. Dormers and demolition each accounted for 6.6%, broadly in line with national shares. No single category runs far enough above the national rate to stand out. The mix is steady across the board.
Applications submitted to Cambridge Council in 2024 and 2025, by project type. Counts are pooled across both years for stability.
No outlier category
Nothing in Cambridge clears the volume and ratio test to count as a stand-out project type. The mix sits close to the national average across the board, consistent with a high-approval, steady-throughput authority.
The council verdict
A significantly higher than average yes.
Cambridge Council approved 94.5% of the applications it decided and refused just 5.5%, or about 1 in 18. Both figures are well ahead of the national average: the national approval rate is 87.6% and the national refusal rate is 12.4%, roughly 1 in 8.
About 1 in 18 Cambridge applications was turned down.
of decided applications were approved, against the 87.6% national rate. Refusals ran at 5.5%, less than half the national 12.4%.
Cambridge vs The National Norm
Below the national average on nearly every measure.
Set Cambridge's application mix against the national average and the town is consistently below the national share across most categories. Home extensions make up 20.6% here against 29.1% nationally. Change of use to residential is 0.9% against a national 2.2%, less than half the national rate. Retrospective applications and loft conversions are also below their national shares. Nothing in Cambridge runs above the norm.
Change of use to residential applications are more than twice as rare in Cambridge as nationally: 0.9% of applications here against 2.2% across England. It is the town's biggest single divergence from the national mix.
Each bar is Cambridge's share of applications submitted in 2024-2025; the marker is the national share. Change of use to residential is the town's biggest gap below the norm.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices rose alongside the building work.
Permission may come a little more readily here, but buying does not: Cambridge remains one of the more expensive places in the country to own a home.
Cambridge's planning data points to one of the more permissive authorities in England. A 94.5% approval rate, nearly 7 points above the national norm, and refusals running at just 1 in 18 give applicants significantly better odds than they would find most places. The project mix is steady and unspectacular. For buyers, this is a council that says yes more than almost anywhere else.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Cambridge Council in 2025 (latest full year), with decision rates computed over the pooled 2024-2025 window for stability. Categories classified from each application's published description.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals, across all decided applications. 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge in the latest full year, from extensions and HMO conversions to a retrospective application and a pair of refusals. Open any one to see its full record.
106 York Street CB1 2PY
A two-storey rear extension with a single-storey infill was granted, the home extension that is Cambridge's most common project type.
See this property's full record65 St Thomas S Square CB1 3TG
Permission was given to convert a six-bed home into a seven-person HMO with a two-storey side extension, one of 54 HMO conversion applications in the period.
See this property's full record20 Sunnyside CB5 8SG
A front and rear extension with a loft conversion was approved, one of the 46 loft conversion applications recorded in Cambridge, below the national share.
See this property's full record3 Cunningham Close CB4 2DN
A single-storey detached annexe outbuilding in the rear garden was granted for ancillary use tied to the main house.
See this property's full record42 Birdwood Road CB1 3SU
The council refused to discharge planning conditions covering surface water, foul water, landscaping and cycle storage, one of the roughly 1 in 18 applications turned down.
See this property's full record5 Pretoria Road CB4 1HD
A request to remove a silver birch tree and replace it with a fruit tree was refused permission.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Cambridge?
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