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Decision times · East of England

How long planning decisions take in Babergh

50 days. Ranked 32 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Babergh took 50 days from submission to decision — 6 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,940 decisions where the council published both dates.

50 days
Median decision 6 days inside the eight week target
32 of 343
UK rank down 24 places in a year
63%
Within eight weeks 90% within thirteen
93 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Babergh compares

Year to September 2026

Babergh decides faster than the country as a whole: 6 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 63%.

The average here is 54 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 93 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,840 63%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 794 27%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 306 10%

The last few years

Each row is a full twelve months of decisions, ending in the quarter shown

Rolling twelve month windows overlap by nine months, so this reads as a trend rather than as four separate quarters. Only windows our records reach far enough back to measure in full are listed.

Babergh: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
September 2026 50 32 of 343
June 2026 48 32 of 328
March 2026 42 19 of 243
December 2025 35 13 of 236
September 2025 25 8 of 324
June 2025 54 81 of 313
March 2025 52 55 of 315
December 2024 52 57 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 25 days, Babergh has moved down 24 places in the table.

By type of application

Year to September 2026 · types with at least ten decisions

The headline median mixes every kind of application together. A householder extension and an outline application for a housing site are not the same job, and the difference between them is usually larger than the difference between two councils.

  1. Other 65 decided 25 days
  2. Amendments 151 decided 26 days
  3. Trees 424 decided 29 days
  4. Conditions 887 decided 46 days
  5. Outline 25 decided 49 days
  6. Prior approval 73 decided 55 days
  7. Advertising 29 decided 56 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 293 decided 57 days
  9. Lawful development 85 decided 58 days
  10. Reserved matters 17 decided 59 days
  11. Householder 478 decided 61 days
  12. Full applications 256 decided 72 days

How these types compare nationally

What Babergh decides

Year to September 2026

Babergh issued 2,940 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 93% were approvals: 2,429 granted against 182 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes sit outside that percentage rather than being counted as either.

Speed and approval rate are separate things. A council that refuses quickly is not doing the same job as one that negotiates an approval slowly, and neither figure alone says which served the applicant better.

Common questions

How long does a planning decision take in Babergh?

The median planning application decided by Babergh in the year to September 2026 took 50 days from submission to decision, 6 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,940 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 32 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Babergh meet the eight week target?

63% of the 2,940 decisions Babergh made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 90% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 93 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Babergh faster or slower than average?

Babergh is faster than average: its median of 50 days is 6 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Babergh getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 25 days, Babergh has moved down 24 places in the table. Its median has risen by 25 days.

What proportion of applications does Babergh approve?

93% of the clear-cut outcomes Babergh issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 2,429 granted against 182 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Babergh planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 50 days from application to decision (6 days inside the eight week target), across 2,940 decisions with both dates published. 63% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 90% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 93 days. Ranked 32 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 93% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.