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Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in Bath and North East Somerset

52 days. Ranked 52 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Bath and North East Somerset took 52 days from submission to decision — 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 3,143 decisions where the council published both dates.

52 days
Median decision 4 days inside the eight week target
52 of 343
UK rank up 12 places in a year
60%
Within eight weeks 81% within thirteen
125 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Bath and North East Somerset compares

Year to September 2026

Bath and North East Somerset decides faster than the country as a whole: 4 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 60%.

The average here is 67 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 125 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,891 60%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 668 21%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 584 19%

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.

Bath and North East Somerset: 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 52 52 of 343
June 2026 50 49 of 328
March 2026 48 44 of 243
December 2025 41 32 of 236
September 2025 49 64 of 324
June 2025 54 72 of 313
March 2025 54 74 of 315
December 2024 54 73 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 49 days, Bath and North East Somerset has moved up 12 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. Outline 64 decided 27 days
  2. Other 19 decided 36 days
  3. Trees 878 decided 36 days
  4. Householder 14 decided 39 days
  5. Amendments 178 decided 45 days
  6. Conditions 473 decided 55 days
  7. Lawful development 177 decided 55 days
  8. Prior approval 13 decided 55 days
  9. Full applications 913 decided 63 days
  10. Advertising 62 decided 68 days
  11. Heritage and listed buildings 323 decided 93 days

How these types compare nationally

What Bath and North East Somerset decides

Year to September 2026

Bath and North East Somerset issued 3,143 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 96% were approvals: 2,322 granted against 98 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 Bath and North East Somerset?

The median planning application decided by Bath and North East Somerset in the year to September 2026 took 52 days from submission to decision, 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 3,143 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 52 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Bath and North East Somerset meet the eight week target?

60% of the 3,143 decisions Bath and North East Somerset made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 81% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 125 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Bath and North East Somerset faster or slower than average?

Bath and North East Somerset is faster than average: its median of 52 days is 4 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Bath and North East Somerset getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 49 days, Bath and North East Somerset has moved up 12 places in the table. Its median has risen by 3 days.

What proportion of applications does Bath and North East Somerset approve?

96% of the clear-cut outcomes Bath and North East Somerset issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 2,322 granted against 98 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Bath and North East Somerset planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 52 days from application to decision (4 days inside the eight week target), across 3,143 decisions with both dates published. 60% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 81% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 125 days. Ranked 52 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 96% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.