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Decision times · Wales

How long planning decisions take in Cardiff

53 days. Ranked 70 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Cardiff took 53 days from submission to decision — 3 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,690 decisions where the council published both dates.

53 days
Median decision 3 days inside the eight week target
70 of 343
UK rank up 164 places in a year
56%
Within eight weeks 73% within thirteen
188 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Cardiff compares

Year to September 2026

Cardiff decides faster than the country as a whole: 3 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 56%.

The average here is 90 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 188 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 940 56%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 288 17%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 462 27%

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.

Cardiff: 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 53 70 of 343
June 2026 52 70 of 328
March 2026 50 62 of 243
December 2025 57 178 of 236
September 2025 62 234 of 324
June 2025 63 218 of 313
March 2025 63 222 of 315
December 2024 63 229 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 62 days, Cardiff has moved up 164 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. Trees 167 decided 10 days
  2. Lawful development 159 decided 22 days
  3. Advertising 68 decided 37 days
  4. Prior approval 20 decided 39 days
  5. Amendments 164 decided 44 days
  6. Householder 468 decided 61 days
  7. Conditions 259 decided 65 days
  8. Full applications 320 decided 73 days
  9. Heritage and listed buildings 51 decided 106 days

How these types compare nationally

What Cardiff decides

Year to September 2026

Cardiff issued 1,690 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 94% were approvals: 1,292 granted against 78 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 Cardiff?

The median planning application decided by Cardiff in the year to September 2026 took 53 days from submission to decision, 3 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,690 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 70 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Cardiff meet the eight week target?

56% of the 1,690 decisions Cardiff made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 73% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 188 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Cardiff faster or slower than average?

Cardiff is faster than average: its median of 53 days is 3 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Cardiff getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 62 days, Cardiff has moved up 164 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 9 days.

What proportion of applications does Cardiff approve?

94% of the clear-cut outcomes Cardiff issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,292 granted against 78 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Cardiff planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 53 days from application to decision (3 days inside the eight week target), across 1,690 decisions with both dates published. 56% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 73% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 188 days. Ranked 70 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 94% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.