Planning applications in Gravesham

Planning in Gravesham

Gravesham refuses more often than the areas we cover as a whole. About 1 in 5 decided planning applications here was refused, against about 1 in 7 across the areas we cover, and the gap shows up in almost every kind of work. Its neighbours are gentler: Dartford refuses about 1 in 7 and Medway about 1 in 8.

The strictness is clearest on the smaller jobs people often assume are routine. Windows and doors were refused about 1 in 5 times, where across the areas we cover it is about 1 in 9. Solar panels were also refused about 1 in 5 times, against about 1 in 9 nationally. Driveways and dropped kerbs are the hardest of all, refused about 1 in 3 times, and loft conversions and dormers about 1 in 4, both worse than the already high local average.

Extensions face odds that are worse than across the areas we cover but not the worst in Gravesham. Rear extensions, the most common application with more than 13,000 made, were refused about 1 in 6 times. Front extensions and porches and fences, walls and gates were also about 1 in 6, while side extensions and garden rooms and outbuildings, with more than 8,000 applications, were about 1 in 5. With numbers like these, it pays to look at what was approved on nearby streets and to design conservatively before you apply for planning permission in Gravesham.

Across 2023 to 2025 the median was 7.6 weeks, and about three in four (78 per cent) were decided within 8 weeks.

There are signs of a slight softening. In 2025 about 1 in 5 decided applications was refused, compared with about 1 in 4 across the three years before. Applications numbered 1,262, a little above the average of about 1,213 a year before, and the busiest year on record was 2021, with 1,459. Gravesham has 23 conservation areas, 304 listed buildings and 13 Article 4 directions.

Figures in this section as of 9 October 2026.