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Decision times · West Midlands

How long planning decisions take in Birmingham

63 days. Ranked 236 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Birmingham took 63 days from submission to decision — 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 4,359 decisions where the council published both dates.

63 days
Median decision 7 days beyond the eight week target
236 of 343
UK rank up 75 places in a year
45%
Within eight weeks 69% within thirteen
161 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Birmingham compares

Year to September 2026

Birmingham takes longer than the country as a whole: 7 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 45%.

The average here is 89 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 161 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,967 45%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 1,039 24%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 1,353 31%

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
September 2026 63 236 of 343
June 2026 56 148 of 328
March 2026 58 184 of 243
December 2025 76 216 of 236
September 2025 100 311 of 324
June 2025 93 295 of 313
March 2025 78 282 of 315
December 2024 63 227 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 100 days, Birmingham has moved up 75 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. Prior approval 798 decided 35 days
  2. Telecoms 48 decided 53 days
  3. Householder 1,458 decided 60 days
  4. Lawful development 358 decided 63 days
  5. Amendments 244 decided 70 days
  6. Conditions 514 decided 70 days
  7. Advertising 177 decided 92 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 59 decided 112 days
  9. Full applications 696 decided 123 days

How these types compare nationally

What Birmingham decides

Year to September 2026

Birmingham issued 4,359 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 84% were approvals: 3,275 granted against 628 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 September 2026 took 63 days from submission to decision, 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 4,359 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 236 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Birmingham meet the eight week target?

45% of the 4,359 decisions Birmingham made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 69% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 161 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 63 days is 7 days above the national median of 56 days.

Is Birmingham getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 100 days, Birmingham has moved up 75 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 37 days.

What proportion of applications does Birmingham approve?

84% of the clear-cut outcomes Birmingham issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 3,275 granted against 628 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 September 2026: median 63 days from application to decision (7 days beyond the eight week target), across 4,359 decisions with both dates published. 45% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 69% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 161 days. Ranked 236 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 84% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.