Wellingborough converts buildings to homes at twice the national rate. Listed-building work is also running well above average.
North Northamptonshire received 393 planning applications for the Wellingborough area in 2025. Of the 598 applications decided across 2024 and 2025, 86.8% were approved and 13.2% refused, both broadly in line with the national rate. The headline is not the verdict but the mix: change of use to residential applications run at 4.5% of all applications, double the national 2.2%, and listed-building work accounts for 4.3%, against 2.4% nationally.
The year in one line
Wellingborough submitted 393 planning applications in 2025, with an approval rate broadly in line with national figures, but change of use to residential applications running at double the national share and listed-building work at nearly twice.
What Wellingborough Is Building
A conversion town: change of use to residential at twice the national rate.
Home extensions led the application mix at 24.8% of all submissions, below the national 29.1%. Demolition was the second-largest category at 10.3%. The two genuine outliers are change of use to residential, at 4.5% against a national 2.2%, and listed-building works, at 4.3% against a national 2.4%. Retrospective applications were notably rare at 1.7%, less than half the national 3.7%.
Applications submitted to North Northamptonshire in 2024-2025 within the Wellingborough area, by project type.
Two genuine outliers
Change of use to residential at 4.5% (double the national 2.2%) and listed-building works at 4.3% (nearly twice the national 2.4%). Both categories clear the threshold for a robust, statistically significant finding.
The council verdict
A verdict broadly in line with the country.
Of the 598 applications decided across 2024-2025, the council approved 86.8% and refused 13.2%. The national approval rate is 87.6% and refusal rate 12.4%. About 1 in 8 applications was turned down, the same as the national picture.
About 1 in 8 Wellingborough applications was turned down, in line with the national rate.
of decided applications were refused across 2024-2025, against a national refusal rate of 12.4%. About 1 in 8, broadly in line with the country.
Wellingborough vs The National Norm
Twice the national rate for residential conversions. A heritage town that shows in the data.
Set Wellingborough's application mix against the national average and two categories stand out clearly. Change of use to residential runs at 4.5% of all applications versus 2.2% nationally, a 2.0x multiple. Listed-building works come in at 4.3% against 2.4% nationally. Home extensions, the largest single category, actually sit below the national share. Retrospective applications are notably rare at 1.7% against 3.7% nationally.
the national rate for change of use to residential applications. At 4.5% of all submissions against a national 2.2%, Wellingborough converts existing buildings to homes at double the national pace.
Each bar is Wellingborough's share of applications; the marker is the national share. Applications submitted to North Northamptonshire in 2024-2025.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices rose alongside the building work.
Permission may be harder to win here, but values held their ground: the average Wellingborough home gained over the year.
Wellingborough's planning data has a clear shape. The approval rate sits in line with the national figure, but the mix of applications is not ordinary. Change of use to residential runs at twice the national rate, and listed-building work at nearly twice. This is a town converting and adapting its existing building stock more actively than most, while also managing a heritage layer that demands more consent work than average.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to North Northamptonshire in 2025 (volume) and across 2024-2025 (rates and shares), classified from each application's published description. Shares are each category as a percentage of all applications in the pooled window.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals, computed over all decided applications in the 2024-2025 window. 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 Wellingborough 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 Wellingborough area, from the conversions that define the town's planning mix to examples of the heritage consent work running well above the national average.
5 Ryeburn Way NN8 3AH
A part two-storey and part single-storey rear extension with a single-storey front extension was approved, the kind of home extension that leads the application mix.
See this property's full record111 London Road, Raunds NN9 6DB
An extension link and a garage conversion were granted, adding living space to the home.
See this property's full record73 Nest Lane NN8 4BE
A change of roof from hip to gable with a loft conversion and a full-width rear dormer was permitted.
See this property's full record23 Hickmire, Wollaston NN29 7SL
Window, rooflight and door details were signed off on a listed building, an example of the heritage consent work running above the national share.
See this property's full record75 High Street, Great Doddington NN29 7TQ
A plan to replace windows across the front, side and rear elevations was turned down, one of the 13.2% of applications refused across the 2024-2025 period.
See this property's full record17 Lakeside, Irthlingborough NN9 5SW
A two-storey rear extension with rooflights and internal alterations was refused.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Wellingborough?
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