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Decision times · Northern Ireland

How long planning decisions take in Belfast

101 days. Ranked 329 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Belfast took 101 days from submission to decision — 45 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 992 decisions where the council published both dates.

101 days
Median decision 45 days beyond the eight week target
329 of 343
UK rank down 23 places in a year
20%
Within eight weeks 44% within thirteen
202 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Belfast compares

Year to September 2026

Belfast takes longer than the country as a whole: 45 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 20%.

The average here is 119 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 202 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 201 20%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 233 23%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 558 56%

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.

Belfast: 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 101 329 of 343
June 2026 93 316 of 328
March 2026 83 224 of 243
December 2025 61 193 of 236
September 2025 93 306 of 324
June 2025 101 299 of 313
March 2025 101 304 of 315
December 2024 99 307 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 93 days, Belfast has moved down 23 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. Conditions 171 decided 55 days
  2. Amendments 40 decided 67 days
  3. Advertising 66 decided 82 days
  4. Heritage and listed buildings 95 decided 107 days
  5. Full applications 600 decided 119 days

How these types compare nationally

What Belfast decides

Year to September 2026

Belfast issued 992 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 98% were approvals: 777 granted against 18 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 Belfast?

The median planning application decided by Belfast in the year to September 2026 took 101 days from submission to decision, 45 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 992 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 329 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Belfast meet the eight week target?

20% of the 992 decisions Belfast made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 44% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 202 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Belfast faster or slower than average?

Belfast is slower than average: its median of 101 days is 45 days above the national median of 56 days.

Is Belfast getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 93 days, Belfast has moved down 23 places in the table. Its median has risen by 8 days.

What proportion of applications does Belfast approve?

98% of the clear-cut outcomes Belfast issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 777 granted against 18 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Belfast planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 101 days from application to decision (45 days beyond the eight week target), across 992 decisions with both dates published. 20% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 44% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 202 days. Ranked 329 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 98% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.