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Decision times · East of England

How long planning decisions take in Broadland

51 days. Ranked 42 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Broadland took 51 days from submission to decision — 5 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,770 decisions where the council published both dates.

51 days
Median decision 5 days inside the eight week target
42 of 343
UK rank down 25 places in a year
61%
Within eight weeks 83% within thirteen
126 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Broadland compares

Year to September 2026

Broadland decides faster than the country as a whole: 5 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 61%.

The average here is 66 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 126 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,683 61%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 605 22%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 482 17%

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.

Broadland: 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 51 42 of 343
June 2026 48 34 of 328
March 2026 42 21 of 243
December 2025 37 22 of 236
September 2025 30 17 of 324
June 2025 51 47 of 313
March 2025 51 47 of 315
December 2024 51 51 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 30 days, Broadland has moved down 25 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. Other 45 decided 27 days
  2. Trees 748 decided 27 days
  3. Prior approval 23 decided 38 days
  4. Amendments 260 decided 47 days
  5. Conditions 381 decided 48 days
  6. Lawful development 85 decided 54 days
  7. Householder 666 decided 58 days
  8. Advertising 18 decided 60 days
  9. Heritage and listed buildings 182 decided 68 days
  10. Outline 71 decided 101 days
  11. Full applications 277 decided 106 days

How these types compare nationally

What Broadland decides

Year to September 2026

Broadland issued 2,770 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 95% were approvals: 2,361 granted against 124 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 Broadland?

The median planning application decided by Broadland in the year to September 2026 took 51 days from submission to decision, 5 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,770 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 42 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Broadland meet the eight week target?

61% of the 2,770 decisions Broadland made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 83% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 126 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Broadland faster or slower than average?

Broadland is faster than average: its median of 51 days is 5 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Broadland getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 30 days, Broadland has moved down 25 places in the table. Its median has risen by 21 days.

What proportion of applications does Broadland approve?

95% of the clear-cut outcomes Broadland issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 2,361 granted against 124 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Broadland planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 51 days from application to decision (5 days inside the eight week target), across 2,770 decisions with both dates published. 61% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 83% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 126 days. Ranked 42 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 95% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.