Skip to content
PlanIndex Get alerts
Menu

Decision times · Yorkshire and The Humber

How long planning decisions take in Bradford

56 days. Ranked 160 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Bradford took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 481 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
160 of 343
UK rank First measured window
56%
Within eight weeks 77% within thirteen
147 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Bradford compares

Year to September 2026

Bradford sits exactly on the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 56%.

The average here is 84 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 147 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 267 56%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 102 21%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 112 23%

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.

Bradford: 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 56 160 of 343
June 2026 56 181 of 328
June 2025 55 95 of 313
March 2025 55 100 of 315
December 2024 55 98 of 319

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 21 decided 42 days
  2. Advertising 26 decided 56 days
  3. Conditions 22 decided 56 days
  4. Householder 185 decided 56 days
  5. Lawful development 37 decided 56 days
  6. Trees 48 decided 59 days
  7. Heritage and listed buildings 24 decided 71 days
  8. Full applications 97 decided 78 days

How these types compare nationally

What Bradford decides

Year to September 2026

Bradford issued 481 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 87% were approvals: 411 granted against 62 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 Bradford?

The median planning application decided by Bradford in the year to September 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 481 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 160 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Bradford meet the eight week target?

56% of the 481 decisions Bradford made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 77% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 147 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Bradford faster or slower than average?

Bradford sits exactly on the national median of 56 days.

What proportion of applications does Bradford approve?

87% of the clear-cut outcomes Bradford issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 411 granted against 62 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Bradford planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 481 decisions with both dates published. 56% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 77% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 147 days. Ranked 160 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 87% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.