Planning applications in Elmbridge

Planning in Elmbridge

Planning applications in Elmbridge are refused far more often than across the areas we cover. About 1 in 4 applications is refused, compared with about 1 in 7 across the areas we cover, and in 2025 the rate was about 1 in 3, up from about 1 in 4 across the three years before, so refusals are happening more often than they were.

The strictness is not limited to any one kind of work. Windows and doors, loft conversions and dormers, fences, walls and gates, and solar panels are all refused about 1 in 4 times. Rear extensions, side extensions, garden rooms and outbuildings, and front extensions and porches are refused about 1 in 5. Driveways and dropped kerbs are the gentlest at about 1 in 6, and the only kind of work here refused less often than it is across the areas we cover, where driveways are refused about 1 in 5.

Rear extensions are the largest group, with more than 12,000 applications, followed by side extensions with more than 7,000. Garden rooms and outbuildings, windows and doors, front extensions and porches, and loft conversions and dormers each have around 6,000. Rear extensions, side extensions, garden rooms and front extensions are refused less often than applications in Elmbridge overall, while windows and doors, lofts, boundary work and solar panels sit at about the council’s average.

All four neighbours with a rate are more lenient than Elmbridge. Kingston refuses about 1 in 5, Guildford and Mole Valley about 1 in 6 and Richmond about 1 in 7.

Elmbridge has dealt with nearly 36,000 applications since 2016. The busiest year was 2016 with 3,882, and in 2025 there were 2,792, below the average of about 3,070 a year across the three years before.

In a borough where roughly a quarter of applications fail, preparation matters. Look at what has been approved for the same kind of work on nearby streets, keep extensions in proportion to the house and neighbouring buildings, and make sure the drawings are complete. Elmbridge has 24 conservation areas and 512 listed buildings, which add further care for homes in or beside them.

Figures in this section as of 9 October 2026.