Decision times · East of England
How long planning decisions take in Castle Point
54 days. Ranked 89 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Castle Point took 54 days from submission to decision — 2 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 205 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Castle Point compares
Year to September 2026
Castle Point decides faster than the country as a whole: 2 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 58%.
The average here is 61 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 85 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 119 58%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 69 34%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 17 8%
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.
| Twelve months to | Median days | UK rank |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 54 | 89 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 53 | 93 of 328 |
| September 2025 | 29 | 12 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 31 | 2 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 31 | 1 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 31 | 1 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 29 days, Castle Point has moved down 77 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.
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Amendments 17 decided 36 days
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Prior approval 10 decided 43 days
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Lawful development 27 decided 49 days
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Conditions 11 decided 50 days
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Trees 11 decided 51 days
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Full applications 114 decided 57 days
What Castle Point decides
Year to September 2026
Castle Point issued 205 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 87% were approvals: 166 granted against 25 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 Castle Point?
The median planning application decided by Castle Point in the year to September 2026 took 54 days from submission to decision, 2 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 205 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 89 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Castle Point meet the eight week target?
58% of the 205 decisions Castle Point made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 92% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 85 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Castle Point faster or slower than average?
Castle Point is faster than average: its median of 54 days is 2 days below the national median of 56 days.
Is Castle Point getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 29 days, Castle Point has moved down 77 places in the table. Its median has risen by 25 days.
What proportion of applications does Castle Point approve?
87% of the clear-cut outcomes Castle Point issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 166 granted against 25 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Castle Point planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 54 days from application to decision (2 days inside the eight week target), across 205 decisions with both dates published. 58% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 92% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 85 days. Ranked 89 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 87% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.