Crawley residents convert garages at nearly twice the national rate. The project mix tells the real story.
Crawley's council received 721 planning applications in 2025, up from 689 the year before. Of the 1,211 applications decided across 2024 and 2025, 87.9% were approved and 12.1% refused, both broadly in line with the national figures of 87.6% and 12.4%. The standout in the mix is garage conversions, which account for 4.1% of all applications submitted to Crawley Borough Council, 1.7 times the national share of 2.4%.
The year in one line
Crawley's approval and refusal rates match the national average closely, while garage conversions stand out at 1.7 times the national share, the only category that clears the bar as a genuine local feature of the application mix.
What Crawley Is Building
Garage conversions stand out in an otherwise ordinary mix.
Home extensions were the most common type submitted to Crawley Borough Council, at 28.2% of all applications, close to the national share of 29.1%. Demolition accounted for 11.3%, above the national 9.1%. The one category that clearly stands out is garage conversions at 4.1%, against a national share of 2.4%, making it 1.7 times more common here than across England and Wales. Loft conversions also ran modestly above the national rate, at 3.5% versus 2.6%.
Applications submitted to Crawley Borough Council in 2025, by project type (2024-2025 pooled counts shown).
Garage conversions: the local standout
At 4.1% of all applications, Crawley's garage conversion rate is 1.7 times the national share of 2.4%, the only category that clears the threshold as a genuine local feature of the mix.
The council verdict
A verdict in line with the national picture.
Of the 1,211 applications decided across 2024 and 2025, 1,065 were approved and 146 refused. The approval rate of 87.9% and refusal rate of 12.1% both sit within a fraction of the national figures of 87.6% and 12.4%. About 1 in 8 applications is turned down, the same as the national norm.
About 1 in 8 Crawley applications was turned down.
applications were refused, a 12.1% refusal rate against the national 12.4%. Crawley's decision rate closely tracks the national norm.
Crawley vs The National Norm
Garage conversions at 1.7x the national rate, everything else close to average.
Set Crawley's application mix against the national average and most categories track the norm closely. The one clear divergence is garage conversions, at 4.1% against 2.4% nationally, making Crawley 1.7 times more active in this category than the country as a whole. Demolition also runs above the national rate. Dormers are below it. The approval and refusal rates are near-identical to the national figures.
Garage conversions account for 4.1% of Crawley applications, against 2.4% nationally, the one category where the town clearly stands apart from the national norm.
Each bar is Crawley's share of applications; the marker is the national share. Data from applications submitted to Crawley Borough Council, 2024-2025 pooled.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices held up alongside the building activity.
Permission may be hard to win here, but prices have not softened: the Crawley market kept rising over the year.
Crawley's planning data shows a town with an application mix that mostly matches the national pattern, but with one clear local feature: garage conversions run at nearly double the national rate. Householders here are unusually active in converting garages into living space, while the approval rate shows the council is deciding applications in line with the national norm.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Crawley Borough Council in 2025, with shares and rates computed over the pooled 2024-2025 window for stability. Classified from each application's published description.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals, computed over 1,211 decided applications across 2024-2025. 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 Crawley 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 Crawley in the latest full year, from refusals to the garage conversions and extensions that make up the bulk of the work. Open any one to see its full record.
45 Lashmere, Copthorne RH10 3RR
A retrospective plan to use a converted garage as a self-contained studio was turned down, one of the roughly 1 in 8 applications the council refused.
See this property's full record26 Tiltwood Drive, Crawley Down RH10 4PH
A retrospective application for a red brick dwarf wall to the front boundary was refused, an example of the council declining after-the-fact filings.
See this property's full record41 Perryfield Road RH11 8AA
A proposed single storey rear and side extension was withdrawn before the council reached a decision.
See this property's full record77 Church Lane, Copthorne RH10 3QG
A single storey rear extension, the most common project type in Crawley, was approved.
See this property's full record8 Elger Way, Copthorne RH10 3JJ
Permission was granted for single storey front and rear extensions with a part garage conversion and a front storm porch.
See this property's full record52 Oxford Road RH10 5JQ
A certificate of lawfulness for an existing rear conservatory was granted, confirming the earlier work as lawful.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Crawley?
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