South Gloucestershire planning permission refused: the reasons, counted

The commonest reason is design. We read 42 of the 42 applications for building work South Gloucestershire refused since July 2026 and sorted each by what its reasons were about. Each dot is one of them.

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Design and character of the area 21 of 42
Not permitted development 9 of 42
Living conditions for future occupiers 8 of 42
Neighbours' amenity 6 of 42
Highways and parking 5 of 42
Insufficient information 5 of 42
Green Belt and open countryside 4 of 42
Heritage assets 4 of 42

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

Also cited: flooding and drainage (1), principle of development (1), trees, landscape and ecology (1).

Of the 42 refusals of building work South Gloucestershire made since July 2026 that we read, 50% were refused at least in part over design or the character of the area. Plan Forecast, 4 November 2026.

Design and character of the area

of the refusals we read

21 of the 42 applications for building work South Gloucestershire 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 80%
Folkestone and Hythe 73%
Trafford 73%
Bromley 71%
Leeds 70%
Manchester 70%
Cheshire West and Chester 69%
Epping Forest 67%
York 67%
Rochdale 63%
Croydon 59%
Reading 59%
Wakefield 59%
Salford 56%
North Yorkshire 51%
Northumberland 51%
Buckinghamshire 50%
Ealing 50%
South Gloucestershire 50%
Milton Keynes 46%
Stockport 42%
Ashford 41%
Cotswold 38%
Westminster 38%
Bracknell Forest 34%

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

Also cited

Not permitted development 9 of 42
Living conditions for future occupiers 8 of 42
Neighbours' amenity 6 of 42
Highways and parking 5 of 42
Insufficient information 5 of 42
Green Belt and open countryside 4 of 42
Heritage assets 4 of 42
Flooding and drainage 1 of 42
Principle of development 1 of 42
Trees, landscape and ecology 1 of 42

How we count

These are South Gloucestershire's own refusals of every kind of work we sort applications into (work we cannot name is left out), decided since July 2026 and listed on its register. For each one we read the decision notice and sorted its reasons by what they were about. 0 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 South Gloucestershire approves · Why planning permission gets refused, anywhere

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