Wiltshire approves 95% of Salisbury-area planning applications. Only 1 in 21 is refused.
Wiltshire Council decided 2,436 planning applications in the Salisbury area across 2024 and 2025 and approved 95.2% of them, well above the national rate of 87.6%. Only 4.8% were refused, against a national norm of 12.4%, so applicants here are turned down less than half as often as the typical English town. In 2025 alone, 1,384 applications were submitted to the council, up 12% on 2024. Home extensions led the mix, with demolition and dormers also featuring strongly.
The year in one line
Wiltshire approves Salisbury-area planning applications at far above the national rate, refusing fewer than 1 in 21, less than half the national refusal rate, and 2025 saw a 12% rise in submissions on the year before.
What Salisbury Is Building
Extensions lead, but the approval rate is the real story.
Home extensions were the most common project type submitted to Wiltshire Council in 2025, at 21.6% of all applications, below the national norm of 29.1%. Demolition followed at 6.5%, then retrospective applications at 3.8% and dormers at 3.6%. No single category ran clearly above the national share; the defining feature of Salisbury's planning record is how readily the council says yes across the board.
Applications submitted to Wiltshire Council in the Salisbury area, 2024-2025 pooled, by project type.
The consent story
No project category stands out as unusually common compared with the national picture. What does stand out is the council's approach: 95.2% of applications that received a decision were approved, and only 4.8% refused.
The council verdict
Among the most permissive in England.
Wiltshire Council approved 95.2% of the applications it decided in the Salisbury area and refused only 4.8%, less than two-fifths of the national refusal rate of 12.4%. Where roughly 1 in 8 applications is refused nationally, here the figure is closer to 1 in 21. For anyone planning a project in this area, the odds of winning consent are strong.
About 1 in 21 Salisbury-area applications was turned down.
of applications were refused, against a national rate of 12.4%. About 1 in 21 is turned down here, compared with roughly 1 in 8 nationally.
Salisbury vs The National Norm
Below the national mix on most categories, above it on consent.
Set the Salisbury area's application mix against the national average and most categories run below the national share: extensions at 21.6% against 29.1% nationally, dormers at 3.6% against 6.0%, demolition at 6.5% against 9.1%. Annexes are slightly above at 1.6% versus 1.1% nationally. The number that sets this area apart is the council verdict: 95.2% approval against a national rate of 87.6%.
Wiltshire Council approved 95.2% of Salisbury-area applications that received a decision, against a national approval rate of 87.6%. Only 1 in 21 was refused.
Each bar is the Salisbury area's share of applications; the marker is the national share. Rates and shares are pooled across 2024-2025 for stability.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices rose alongside the building activity.
Permission may be easier to win here than almost anywhere in England, and prices kept climbing: the average Salisbury home sold for more in the latest full year than the one before.
Salisbury's planning record is clear. Wiltshire Council approved 95.2% of applications in this area and refused only 1 in 21, less than half the national refusal rate. The application mix runs below the national norm on most categories. For buyers and homeowners here, the planning odds are as good as anywhere in England.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Wiltshire Council in 2025 (volume) and pooled 2024-2025 decisions, classified from each application's published description. Shares are each category as a percentage of all applications in scope.
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 Salisbury 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 Salisbury in the latest full year, from extensions and change-of-use projects to annexe conversions and a refusal. Open any one to see its full record.
2 Marina Close, Durrington SP4 8DD
A garage was converted into a self-contained annexe. The council granted consent, as it does for the vast majority of applications in this area.
See this property's full record58 Bouverie Avenue SP2 8DX
A single-storey rear extension and associated internal alterations were approved, the most common project type in the area.
See this property's full record47 Winding Way SP2 9DZ
An old shed and garage were cleared to make way for a new outbuilding combining a garage with extra family space. Permission was granted.
See this property's full record38 Windsor Road SP2 7DX
Retrospective consent was granted to turn two flats into a six-bedroom shared house, alongside a rear dormer and an enlarged extension.
See this property's full record4 Tollgate Road SP1 2HZ
A plan to remove part of a boundary wall and add two new stairwell windows was turned down, one of the rare refusals in an area where 95% of decisions are approvals.
See this property's full record21 Antrobus Road, Amesbury SP4 7NT
A proposed garden shed with electricity was withdrawn before the council reached a decision.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Salisbury?
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