Stafford refuses 1 in 6 planning applications. Conservation-area cases run at 4 times the national rate.
Stafford Borough Council received 949 planning applications in 2025. Of those decided across 2024 and 2025, 16.5% were refused, against a national refusal rate of 12.4%. That makes the council a harder place to win permission than the country as a whole. The approval rate of 83.5% sits below the 87.6% national norm. Conservation-area consent accounts for 7.8% of all applications, more than four times the national share of 1.9%.
The year in one line
Stafford Borough Council refuses 1 in 6 applications, above the national rate, and conservation-area consent features at four times the national share, the planning signature of a historic county town with protected streets at its core.
What Stafford Is Building
Extensions lead, with a strong conservation strand.
Home extensions were the most common application type submitted to Stafford Borough Council in 2025, at 29.1% of all submissions, matching the national norm of 29.1%. The category that sets Stafford apart is conservation-area work: 7.8% of applications, against a national average of just 1.9%. Demolition and retrospective applications made up further shares. This is the application mix of a county town with protected historic streets at its core.
Applications submitted to Stafford Borough Council in 2025, by project type (2024-2025 pooled counts).
The conservation strand
Stafford files conservation-area applications at 4.1 times the national rate. In a county town with protected historic streets, even modest exterior changes need formal consent.
The council verdict
A harder yes to win.
The council approved 83.5% of the applications it decided and refused 16.5%, below the 87.6% national approval rate. Permission is harder to win here than across the country as a whole, with about 1 in 6 applications turned down.
About 1 in 6 Stafford applications was turned down.
of applications were refused, against 12.4% nationally, about 1 in 6. The approval rate, at 83.5%, sits below the 87.6% national norm.
Stafford vs The National Norm
A tougher council, with a distinctive conservation caseload.
Set Stafford's application mix against the national average and one category stands clear. Conservation-area consent features in 7.8% of applications here, 4.1 times the national share of 1.9%. Dormers run at just 1.9% locally against 6.0% nationally. Change of use to residential is modestly above the national share, while demolition and retrospective applications track closer to the norm.
Stafford files conservation-area applications at 4.1 times the national rate. In a county town with protected historic streets, even modest exterior changes need formal consent.
Each bar is Stafford's share of applications; the marker is the national share. Conservation-area work is the town's defining outlier.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices held firm alongside the building work.
Permission may be harder to win here, but home values have not waited: prices rose firmly over the year across the Stafford post town.
Stafford's planning data tells a clear story. The council refuses 1 in 6 applications, above the national rate of about 1 in 8, and conservation-area consent features at four times the national share. Owners extend and adapt their homes at the usual rate, but the historic character of the town means a larger share of those changes need formal scrutiny. For anyone buying here, the council's refusal rate and the weight of conservation obligations are the constraints to plan around.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Stafford Borough Council in 2025 (volume); rates and shares computed over the 2024-2025 pooled window for stability, classified from each application's published description.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals, over 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 Stafford 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 submitted in the Stafford Borough Council area, from refusals and conservation-area cases to extensions and changes of use. Open any one to see its full record.
65 Kiddemore Green Road, Brewood ST19 9BQ
A single-storey rear extension was turned down, one of the roughly 1 in 6 applications the council refused.
See this property's full recordGreen Hay Barn Pershall, Eccleshall ST21 6NE
A plan for replacement windows and a repositioned stone wall was refused, the kind of historic-fabric change Stafford scrutinises closely.
See this property's full record48 Castle Bank ST16 1DJ
Permission was granted to demolish a garage and add two-storey front and rear extensions on a street in the town centre.
See this property's full record26 Lichfield Road ST17 4LL
A lawful development certificate confirmed a house could convert into a small shared rental, a house in multiple occupation.
See this property's full record14 Bedingstone Drive, Penkridge ST19 5TE
A two-storey side and single-storey rear extension, the most common project type in Stafford, was approved subject to conditions.
See this property's full record33 Buckland Road ST16 1UA
A single-storey front extension, a garage conversion and an extra parking space were granted on a town-centre home.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Stafford?
UK Property Looker turns the UK's public property data into clear, free insight: sale history, energy ratings, planning activity and more for every address in England and Wales.