Stevenage and St Albans have fared well in England’s planning permission postcode lottery – though other local areas have been less lucky.

According to new analysis from MoneySuperMarket, 92 per cent of planning applications made to Stevenage Local Planning Authority (LPA) in the fourth quarter of 2018 were approved, compared to 88 per cent in St Albans.

Luton's LPA was ninth on the list of lowest approval rates (71 per cent) however, followed by Watford (73 per cent).

Enfield had the lowest ranking at 62 per cent, while Richmondshire in North Yorkshire was at the other end of the scale with the highest ranking, 99 per cent.

A total of 470,000 applications were submitted to England's LPAs, with an overall approval rate of 88 per cent.

The County of Hertfordshire isn't the speediest of councils, however: just 58 per cent of its planning decisions met the required deadline, compared to an England-wide average of 85 per cent.

The analysis also revealed that 5 per cent of respondents had needlessly submitted planning applications for projects that didn't require approval - equating to a total of £4.8 million in wasted fees.

Rachel Wait, MoneySuperMarket's consumer affairs spokesperson, said: "Improving your home can be an exciting but challenging time, especially when it comes to planning permission.

"Despite three quarters of people saying that the planning permission process wasn't an enjoyable experience, nearly nine in ten applications were successful last year. Hopefully that means the difficulties faced by applicants are generally paying off."

To read more of this anaysis, visit: https://www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/planning-permission/