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Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in Cotswold

52 days. Ranked 53 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Cotswold took 52 days from submission to decision — 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,402 decisions where the council published both dates.

52 days
Median decision 4 days inside the eight week target
53 of 343
UK rank down 27 places in a year
55%
Within eight weeks 82% within thirteen
120 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Cotswold compares

Year to September 2026

Cotswold 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 55%.

The average here is 65 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 120 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,323 55%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 650 27%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 429 18%

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.

Cotswold: 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 53 of 343
June 2026 47 27 of 328
March 2026 43 28 of 243
December 2025 36 17 of 236
September 2025 37 26 of 324
June 2025 47 22 of 313
March 2025 47 20 of 315
December 2024 47 20 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 37 days, Cotswold has moved down 27 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. Amendments 50 decided 17 days
  2. Other 36 decided 26 days
  3. Trees 700 decided 29 days
  4. Outline 43 decided 33 days
  5. Conditions 348 decided 52 days
  6. Lawful development 68 decided 55 days
  7. Prior approval 20 decided 57 days
  8. Advertising 13 decided 68 days
  9. Full applications 814 decided 72 days
  10. Heritage and listed buildings 288 decided 74 days

How these types compare nationally

What Cotswold decides

Year to September 2026

Cotswold issued 2,402 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 94% were approvals: 2,079 granted against 131 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 Cotswold?

The median planning application decided by Cotswold in the year to September 2026 took 52 days from submission to decision, 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,402 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 53 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Cotswold meet the eight week target?

55% of the 2,402 decisions Cotswold made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 82% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 120 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Cotswold faster or slower than average?

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

Is Cotswold getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 37 days, Cotswold has moved down 27 places in the table. Its median has risen by 15 days.

What proportion of applications does Cotswold approve?

94% of the clear-cut outcomes Cotswold issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 2,079 granted against 131 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Cotswold planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 52 days from application to decision (4 days inside the eight week target), across 2,402 decisions with both dates published. 55% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 82% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 120 days. Ranked 53 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 94% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.