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Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in Cornwall

49 days. Ranked 24 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Cornwall took 49 days from submission to decision — 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 7,771 decisions where the council published both dates.

49 days
Median decision 7 days inside the eight week target
24 of 343
UK rank unchanged in a year
79%
Within eight weeks 92% within thirteen
82 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Cornwall compares

Year to September 2026

Cornwall decides faster than the country as a whole: 7 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 79%.

The average here is 50 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 82 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 6,143 79%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 1,021 13%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 607 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.

Cornwall: 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 49 24 of 343
June 2026 49 38 of 328
March 2026 47 36 of 243
December 2025 45 56 of 236
September 2025 36 24 of 324

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 36 days, Cornwall has moved unchanged 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. Prior approval 396 decided 26 days
  2. Other 43 decided 35 days
  3. Trees 809 decided 39 days
  4. Amendments 573 decided 42 days
  5. Outline 627 decided 43 days
  6. Conditions 910 decided 44 days
  7. Lawful development 352 decided 52 days
  8. Telecoms 11 decided 54 days
  9. Advertising 65 decided 55 days
  10. Full applications 2,802 decided 55 days
  11. Heritage and listed buildings 406 decided 55 days
  12. Reserved matters 33 decided 71 days

How these types compare nationally

What Cornwall decides

Year to September 2026

Cornwall issued 7,772 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 94% were approvals: 4,747 granted against 303 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 Cornwall?

The median planning application decided by Cornwall in the year to September 2026 took 49 days from submission to decision, 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 7,771 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 24 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Cornwall meet the eight week target?

79% of the 7,771 decisions Cornwall 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 82 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Cornwall faster or slower than average?

Cornwall is faster than average: its median of 49 days is 7 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Cornwall getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 36 days, Cornwall has moved unchanged in the table. Its median has risen by 13 days.

What proportion of applications does Cornwall approve?

94% of the clear-cut outcomes Cornwall issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 4,747 granted against 303 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Cornwall planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 49 days from application to decision (7 days inside the eight week target), across 7,771 decisions with both dates published. 79% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 92% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 82 days. Ranked 24 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 94% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.