CoverageCroydon

Croydon planning permission refused: the reasons, counted

The commonest reason is the neighbours. We read 30 of the 40 applications for building work Croydon refused since August 2026 and sorted each by what its reasons were about. Each dot is one of them.

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  1. Neighbours' amenity 18 of 30

  2. Design and character of the area 16 of 30

  3. Insufficient information 12 of 30

  4. Highways and parking 6 of 30

  5. Living conditions for future occupiers 5 of 30

  6. Trees, landscape and ecology 3 of 30

  7. Flooding and drainage 1 of 30

  8. Green Belt and open countryside 1 of 30

Each dot is one refusal. A refusal usually gives more than one reason, so it can stand in more than one row.

Also cited: heritage assets (1).

Of the 30 refusals of building work Croydon made since August 2026 that we read, 60% were refused at least in part over the effect on neighbours. Plan Forecast, 2 November 2026.

01

Neighbours' amenity

of the refusals we read

18 of the 30 applications for building work Croydon refused that we read gave a reason about the people next door: their light, their outlook, their privacy, the sense of being hemmed in.

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How the councils compare

  • Croydon 60%
  • Reading 58%
  • Manchester 51%
  • Salford 42%
  • Rochdale 39%
  • Stockport 34%
  • Bromley 33%
  • Leeds 33%
  • Trafford 33%
  • Wakefield 33%
  • Bolton 31%
  • Milton Keynes 27%
  • York 27%
  • North Yorkshire 26%
  • Cheshire West and Chester 25%
  • Ealing 24%
  • Northumberland 24%
  • Epping Forest 23%
  • Buckinghamshire 19%
  • Folkestone and Hythe 16%
  • Westminster 13%
  • Ashford 7%
  • Bracknell Forest 4%

Share of each council's refused applications for building work we read that gave a reason about it.

02

Design and character of the area

of the refusals we read

16 of the 30 applications for building work Croydon refused that we read gave a reason about how the work looked, or how it sat in its street: its size, its shape, its materials.

How the councils compare

  • Bolton 78%
  • Bromley 73%
  • Folkestone and Hythe 73%
  • Trafford 73%
  • Cheshire West and Chester 70%
  • Leeds 70%
  • Manchester 70%
  • Epping Forest 67%
  • York 67%
  • Rochdale 63%
  • Reading 59%
  • Wakefield 58%
  • Salford 56%
  • Croydon 53%
  • North Yorkshire 51%
  • Northumberland 51%
  • Buckinghamshire 50%
  • Ealing 50%
  • Milton Keynes 46%
  • Stockport 43%
  • Ashford 40%
  • Westminster 37%
  • Bracknell Forest 34%

Share of each council's refused applications for building work we read that gave a reason about it.

03

Insufficient information

of the refusals we read

12 of the 30 applications for building work Croydon refused that we read gave a reason about drawings or details the council needed and did not have.

?

How the councils compare

  • Croydon 40%
  • Northumberland 34%
  • Westminster 24%
  • Buckinghamshire 19%
  • Reading 19%
  • Epping Forest 18%
  • Bolton 16%
  • Folkestone and Hythe 16%
  • Bracknell Forest 11%
  • Manchester 11%
  • Milton Keynes 11%
  • Ashford 10%
  • Wakefield 10%
  • North Yorkshire 9%
  • Salford 9%
  • Cheshire West and Chester 8%
  • Rochdale 8%
  • Ealing 6%
  • Leeds 5%
  • Bromley 3%
  • Stockport 2%
  • Trafford 2%
  • York 2%

Share of each council's refused applications for building work we read that gave a reason about it.

Also cited

  • Highways and parking 6 of 30
  • Living conditions for future occupiers 5 of 30
  • Trees, landscape and ecology 3 of 30
  • Flooding and drainage 1 of 30
  • Green Belt and open countryside 1 of 30
  • Heritage assets 1 of 30

How we count

These are Croydon's own refusals of every kind of work we sort applications into (work we cannot name is left out), decided since August 2026 and listed on its register. For each one we read the decision notice and sorted its reasons by what they were about. 10 we have not read yet; they are counted as refusals and not as refusals without reasons.

A refusal usually gives more than one reason, so the shares add up to more than a hundred. Which refusals they were, where, and what each said, is in the Planning Forecast for your address, with a link to each council's own notice.

What Croydon approves · Why planning permission gets refused, anywhere

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