Decision times · East of England
How long planning decisions take in Basildon
73 days. Ranked 282 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Basildon took 73 days from submission to decision — 17 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 33 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Basildon compares
Year to September 2026
Basildon takes longer than the country as a whole: 17 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 39%.
The average here is 231 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 453 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 13 39%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 6 18%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 14 42%
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.
| Twelve months to | Median days | UK rank |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 73 | 282 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 74 | 292 of 328 |
| September 2025 | 52 | 100 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 53 | 65 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 53 | 66 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 53 | 68 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 52 days, Basildon has moved down 182 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.
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Full applications 17 decided 94 days
What Basildon decides
Year to September 2026
Basildon issued 33 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 91% were approvals: 29 granted against 3 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 Basildon?
The median planning application decided by Basildon in the year to September 2026 took 73 days from submission to decision, 17 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 33 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 282 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Basildon meet the eight week target?
39% of the 33 decisions Basildon made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 58% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 453 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Basildon faster or slower than average?
Basildon is slower than average: its median of 73 days is 17 days above the national median of 56 days.
Is Basildon getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 52 days, Basildon has moved down 182 places in the table. Its median has risen by 21 days.
What proportion of applications does Basildon approve?
91% of the clear-cut outcomes Basildon issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 29 granted against 3 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
Click the text to select the whole citation.
Basildon planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 73 days from application to decision (17 days beyond the eight week target), across 33 decisions with both dates published. 39% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 58% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 453 days. Ranked 282 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 91% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.