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Decision times · By region

Planning decision times by UK region

56 days in the South East. 66 in Scotland.

Across the year to December 2026, the median council in the South East decided a planning application in 56 days, against 66 days for the median council in Scotland. Regional figures are the median of each region's councils, so one very large authority cannot speak for its neighbours.

A regional figure here is the median of the medians: every council in the region is measured on its own caseload, and the middle council's figure represents the region. That is deliberate. Pooling every application together would let a single large authority — a county unitary deciding tens of thousands of applications — set the figure for a dozen smaller districts around it, and the result would describe that one council rather than the region.

Only councils ranked in the league table are included, so every region below is built from councils whose records reach far enough back to measure. Regions with fewer than three ranked councils are left out rather than reported on a sample too small to mean anything. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland stand as regions in their own right, because English regions do not apply to them.

Median days by region

Year to December 2026 · 37,872 decisions

Median days from planning application to decision by UK region, year to December 2026. Each figure is the median of the region's councils. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Region Median council Fastest Slowest Councils Decisions
South East 56 45 66 13 13,650
South West 56 49 56 4 4,874
Wales 56 55 58 3 1,613
London 61 56 83 4 8,991
East of England 65 51 81 6 4,952
Scotland 66 55 111 7 3,792
  1. South East 13 councils 56 days
  2. South West 4 councils 56 days
  3. Wales 3 councils 56 days
  4. London 4 councils 61 days
  5. East of England 6 councils 65 days
  6. Scotland 7 councils 66 days

The fastest and slowest columns show the range inside each region. In most regions that range is wider than the gap between the regions themselves, which is worth holding on to: your council matters more than your region.

Every ranked council, by region

Fastest first within each region

South East

South West

Wales

London

East of England

Scotland

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Planning decision times by UK region, year to December 2026: the regional median ranges from 56 days in the South East to 66 days in Scotland. Each regional figure is the median of the councils in it. National median 57 days across 45 councils. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.