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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Canterbury

52 days. Ranked 56 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Canterbury took 52 days from submission to decision — 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,546 decisions where the council published both dates.

52 days
Median decision 4 days inside the eight week target
56 of 343
UK rank up 40 places in a year
64%
Within eight weeks 81% within thirteen
134 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Canterbury compares

Year to September 2026

Canterbury decides faster than the country as a whole: 4 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 64%.

The average here is 71 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 134 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 997 64%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 258 17%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 291 19%

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.

Canterbury: 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 52 56 of 343
June 2026 48 35 of 328
March 2026 43 29 of 243
December 2025 37 23 of 236
September 2025 52 96 of 324
June 2025 55 85 of 313
March 2025 55 88 of 315
December 2024 55 89 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 52 days, Canterbury has moved up 40 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. Heritage and listed buildings 518 decided 35 days
  2. Outline 14 decided 39 days
  3. Trees 72 decided 48 days
  4. Amendments 117 decided 50 days
  5. Lawful development 81 decided 56 days
  6. Full applications 668 decided 57 days
  7. Advertising 32 decided 65 days

How these types compare nationally

What Canterbury decides

Year to September 2026

Canterbury issued 1,546 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 98% were approvals: 1,345 granted against 32 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 Canterbury?

The median planning application decided by Canterbury in the year to September 2026 took 52 days from submission to decision, 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,546 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 56 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Canterbury meet the eight week target?

64% of the 1,546 decisions Canterbury made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 81% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 134 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Canterbury faster or slower than average?

Canterbury is faster than average: its median of 52 days is 4 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Canterbury getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 52 days, Canterbury has moved up 40 places in the table. Its median has not changed.

What proportion of applications does Canterbury approve?

98% of the clear-cut outcomes Canterbury issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,345 granted against 32 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Canterbury planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 52 days from application to decision (4 days inside the eight week target), across 1,546 decisions with both dates published. 64% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 81% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 134 days. Ranked 56 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 98% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.