What we can't tell you · Fragmented

How many planning applications for places of worship are made and decided each year, by authority?

Fragmented The data exists but is held by many authorities separately, with no national compilation; coverage has to be tracked authority by authority.

Why

MHCLG "Planning applications in England" (quarterly, latest January to March 2026) classifies decisions by major, minor and other and by dwellings, offices, industry, retail, traveller pitches, change of use, householder and similar types; religious buildings are not a category, and the PS1/PS2 returns carry only aggregate counts. The use class of a proposal is held on each authority's own register. The Planning Data platform's planning-application dataset covers 6 organisations and is marked incomplete.

What is known

What is not known

Applications and decisions by use class F1(f) for any authority in a national table
Coverage beyond the 6 organisations supplying the Planning Data platform

Who holds the data

Local planning authorities in England and Wales
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Would a Freedom of Information request help?

Possibly. Each authority holds its register and can list applications by use class and year; MHCLG holds aggregates only. Many registers are searchable without a request.

Privacy and disclosure restrictions

None stated by the publisher.

Official sources checked

Last reviewed 2026-09-02. Availability changes; if a publication now answers this question, challenge the classification below.