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Decision times · West Midlands

How long planning decisions take in Birmingham

73 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Birmingham took 73 days from submission to decision — 17 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 3,757 decisions where the council published both dates.

This council carries a figure but no rank

Not ranked yet: our records do not yet pass the historical coverage, monthly continuity, missing-date and refresh checks for this window. The figure above is still what the published dates say; it is left out of the league table so it cannot distort the ranking. See the methodology.

73 days
Median decision 17 days beyond the eight week target
38%
Within eight weeks 62% within thirteen
182 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Birmingham compares

Year to December 2026

Birmingham takes longer than the country as a whole: 16 days above the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 38%.

The average here is 98 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 182 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,415 38%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 916 24%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 1,426 38%

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.

Birmingham: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2024 64 43 of 57

By type of application

Year to December 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. Prior approval 653 decided 35 days
  2. Telecoms 46 decided 53 days
  3. Householder 1,203 decided 70 days
  4. Amendments 209 decided 72 days
  5. Lawful development 329 decided 76 days
  6. Conditions 428 decided 80 days
  7. Advertising 158 decided 96 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 59 decided 127 days
  9. Full applications 663 decided 134 days

How these types compare nationally

What Birmingham decides

Year to December 2026

Birmingham issued 3,757 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 85% were approvals: 3,042 granted against 554 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 Birmingham?

The median planning application decided by Birmingham in the year to December 2026 took 73 days from submission to decision, 17 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 3,757 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Birmingham meet the eight week target?

38% of the 3,757 decisions Birmingham made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 62% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 182 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Birmingham faster or slower than average?

Birmingham is slower than average: its median of 73 days is 16 days above the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Birmingham approve?

85% of the clear-cut outcomes Birmingham issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 3,042 granted against 554 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Birmingham planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 73 days from application to decision (17 days beyond the eight week target), across 3,757 decisions with both dates published. 38% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 62% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 182 days. 85% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.

Or take the data itself: this council's history (CSV) or the full league table (CSV).

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