Planning applications in Bath

Planning in Bath

Bath and North East Somerset has 3,730 listed buildings and 35 conservation areas. If your home is listed or in one of those areas, expect closer attention to materials, windows and anything visible from the street. More than 105,000 applications have been decided since 1996.

Overall, about 1 in 7 was refused, which is about the same as the rate across the areas we cover. That makes Bath neither lenient nor strict on average, but the average hides a lot of difference between projects. Rear extensions, the biggest category with more than 16,000 applications, are refused only about 1 in 12 times. Windows and doors are about 1 in 13, front extensions and porches about 1 in 11, side extensions and solar panels both about 1 in 10. All of these are better than the national picture.

The harder projects are garden rooms and outbuildings, where more than 14,000 applications were decided and about 1 in 7 was refused, loft conversions and dormers, also about 1 in 7, and fences, walls and gates, about 1 in 7 as well. These are close to the council overall and, for outbuildings and boundaries, no better than the national rate. Driveways and dropped kerbs are the hardest at about 1 in 5, the same as the national rate but well above Bath’s overall level.

The neighbour we can compare, North Somerset, refuses about 1 in 8, so Bath refuses slightly more often.

The busiest year was 2017 with 4,657 applications. In 2025 there were 3,962, about the same as the average of about 3,900 a year in the three years before, but the refusal rate improved, from about 1 in 13 to about 1 in 17. The practical lesson from the numbers is to look at what has been approved close to your own address, particularly for an outbuilding, a boundary or a driveway.

Figures in this section as of 9 October 2026.