Woking refuses nearly 1 in 6 planning applications. That is well above the national rate.
Woking Council received 1,479 planning applications in 2025. Of the applications with a decision, 16.4% were refused, against a national refusal rate of 12.4%. That is about 1 in 6 applications turned down, making this a harder place to win permission than the country as a whole. Conservation-area works run at 2.4 times the national share, and demolition at twice the national share.
The year in one line
Woking refused 1 in 6 applications, well above the national norm, and its application mix is shaped by demolition at twice the national share, conservation-area work at 2.4 times, and owners filing retrospective applications at 1.5 times the national rate.
What Woking Is Building
Extensions lead, with demolition and conservation-area work prominent.
Home extensions were the most common project type submitted to Woking Council in 2025, at 41.6% of all applications, well ahead of the 29.1% national share. Demolition made up 18.3% of applications, twice the national rate, and conservation-area works another 4.6%, running at 2.4 times the national share. This is the application mix of an established Surrey town where owners adapt existing buildings and where a significant share of the housing stock falls within protected areas.
Applications submitted to Woking Council in 2025, by project type (2024-2025 pooled counts).
What sets Woking apart
Conservation-area works run at 2.4 times the national share and demolition at twice the national share. Owners are also filing retrospective applications, work done before seeking consent, at 1.5 times the national rate.
The council verdict
A harder yes to win.
The council approved 83.6% of the applications it decided and refused 16.4%, a refusal rate noticeably above the 12.4% national norm. That works out to roughly 1 in 6 applications turned down. The refusal rate is above the national benchmark across both 2024 and 2025, making this a consistently tough council to win permission from.
About 1 in 6 Woking applications was turned down.
applications were refused, a 16.4% refusal rate against a national figure of 12.4%. Woking's refusal rate sits above the national benchmark across both years analysed.
Woking vs The National Norm
A Surrey town where conservation and demolition both run well above the national share.
Set Woking's application mix against the national average and four categories stand out clearly. Conservation-area works run at 2.4 times the national share, garage conversions at 2.1 times, demolition at 2.0 times, and outbuildings at 1.9 times. Home extensions are the largest single category at 41.6%, also above the national share. Retrospective applications, work done before consent was sought, sit at 1.5 times the national rate.
Woking files conservation-area works at 2.4 times the national share, the town's biggest divergence from the national application mix.
Each bar is Woking's share of applications; the marker is the national share. Conservation-area works are the town's sharpest divergence from the norm.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices eased a little alongside the building work.
Permission is harder to win here, and buying stays expensive: Woking remains one of the pricier commuter towns in the country to own a home.
Woking's planning record is clear. This is a tough council that refuses about 1 in 6 applications, well above the national rate. The application mix is shaped by demolition at twice the national share, conservation-area works at 2.4 times, and owners filing retrospective applications at 1.5 times the national rate. For anyone buying or improving property here, the council's track record is the constraint to plan around.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Woking Council in 2025 (volume); rates and shares computed over 2024-2025 pooled for stability. 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 applications with a decision (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 Woking 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 to Woking Council, from conservation-area works and demolition-led extensions to a run of refusals. Open any one to see its full record.
Bluebell Cottage Pyrford Road GU22 8UP
A retrospective application for a rear extension and detached outbuilding, of the kind Woking files at 1.5 times the national rate.
See this property's full record18 Broomhall Lane GU21 4AN
A proposed extension was turned down, one of the roughly 1 in 6 applications the council refused.
See this property's full record291 Albert Drive GU21 5TU
A proposed rear outbuilding was refused, another of the year's refusals in a town that says no more often than most.
See this property's full recordSt Johns South Road GU21 4JW
A two-storey side extension and enlarged rear extension were permitted, following demolition of an existing garage and utility room.
See this property's full record60 High Street, Knaphill GU21 2PY
A retrospective application for a single-storey rear extension, one of 160 such cases submitted to the council.
See this property's full record2 Cuckoo Vale, West End GU24 9NQ
A first-floor roof extension with front and rear dormers was granted to create new habitable space in the roof.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Woking?
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