Planning applications in Caerphilly

Planning in Caerphilly

Caerphilly decides most householder applications within eight weeks. The median decision took 7.3 weeks across 2023 to 2025, and more than eight in ten were decided within 8 weeks. That is a real advantage if you are working to a deadline.

The trade-off is a stricter record. Of 10,373 applications since 2016, about 1 in 5 decided applications was refused, compared with about 1 in 7 across the areas we cover. Rear extensions, the biggest category with more than 2,000 applications, are refused about 1 in 6 times, slightly better than Caerphilly’s average but worse than the national rate. Garden rooms and outbuildings and side extensions are each refused about 1 in 5 times.

Several projects stand out as difficult. Front extensions and porches, fences, walls and gates, and driveways and dropped kerbs are each refused about 1 in 4 times, all above the local average. Loft conversions and dormers are refused about 1 in 5 times, the same as the national rate. Windows and doors are the easier end of the range at about 1 in 7, although that is still more often than the national 1 in 9. Solar panels are refused only about 1 in 12 times, better than the national 1 in 9.

For anyone seeking planning permission in Caerphilly, the practical message is to look hard at what has been approved on nearby streets before you submit. With so many project types refused around 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 times, a design that follows approved local examples is the safer starting point.

The pattern has been stable. Caerphilly received 850 applications in 2025, against an average of 900 a year in the three years before, and about 1 in 4 was refused in both periods. The busiest year was 2021, with 1,165 applications.

Figures in this section as of 9 October 2026.