Research
Planning guides for builders
Three questions this trade answers with a shrug, answered with numbers instead. Written for builders, not for planners: short paragraphs, no jargon, and every figure carries where it came from.
What do planning leads cost in 2026?
What a lead is made of, what each part costs, and what the market charges — at seven volumes.
Read the guideDoes direct mail still work for builders?
The current JICMAIL benchmarks, properly cited, and the one sum that decides it at your volume.
Read the guidePlanning approval rates by council
The national approval rate, how much councils really vary, and a map of England.
Read the guide- Approved — 87,790 (78.0%)
- Refused — 10,513 (9.3%)
- Withdrawn — 4,438 (3.9%)
- Something else — 9,805 (8.7%)
How we source a number
Every figure on these pages carries one of three words, and they mean different things.
- Measured — counted from our own weekly reading of council registers, or taken from the code that charges your card. If it is wrong here it is wrong on the invoice. Measured
- Declared — somebody else published it. We say who, we link to it, and we say what date we read it. Declared
- No source — nobody has a number for this. We print the gap rather than a zero, because a zero looks like a measurement. No source
There is a fourth thing we do not do, which is estimate. If a figure is not on one of these pages it is because we could not stand it up.