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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Buckinghamshire

64 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Buckinghamshire took 64 days from submission to decision — 8 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 4,148 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.

64 days
Median decision 8 days beyond the eight week target
41%
Within eight weeks 69% within thirteen
154 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Buckinghamshire compares

Year to December 2026

Buckinghamshire takes longer than the country as a whole: 7 days above the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 41%.

The average here is 82 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 154 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,690 41%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 1,160 28%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 1,298 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.

Buckinghamshire: 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 58 37 of 56
June 2026 56 20 of 39

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. Telecoms 161 decided 12 days
  2. Other 47 decided 26 days
  3. Amendments 75 decided 48 days
  4. Trees 535 decided 50 days
  5. Lawful development 421 decided 56 days
  6. Conditions 744 decided 62 days
  7. Outline 63 decided 78 days
  8. Full applications 1,666 decided 85 days
  9. Advertising 34 decided 91 days
  10. Heritage and listed buildings 151 decided 100 days
  11. Reserved matters 11 decided 126 days

How these types compare nationally

What Buckinghamshire decides

Year to December 2026

Buckinghamshire issued 4,148 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 85% were approvals: 2,700 granted against 463 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 Buckinghamshire?

The median planning application decided by Buckinghamshire in the year to December 2026 took 64 days from submission to decision, 8 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 4,148 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Buckinghamshire meet the eight week target?

41% of the 4,148 decisions Buckinghamshire made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 69% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 154 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Buckinghamshire faster or slower than average?

Buckinghamshire is slower than average: its median of 64 days is 7 days above the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Buckinghamshire approve?

85% of the clear-cut outcomes Buckinghamshire issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 2,700 granted against 463 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Buckinghamshire planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 64 days from application to decision (8 days beyond the eight week target), across 4,148 decisions with both dates published. 41% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 69% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 154 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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