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Decision times · North East

How long planning decisions take in County Durham

58 days. Ranked 24 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by County Durham took 58 days from submission to decision — 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 2,399 decisions where the council published both dates.

58 days
Median decision 2 days beyond the eight week target
24 of 45
UK rank First measured window
45%
Within eight weeks 70% within thirteen
228 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How County Durham compares

Year to December 2026

County Durham takes longer than the country as a whole: 1 day above the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 45%.

The average here is 105 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 228 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,075 45%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 616 26%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 708 30%

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.

County Durham: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2026 58 24 of 45
September 2026 57 33 of 56
June 2026 58 30 of 39
March 2026 59 24 of 38

By type of application

Year to December 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 347 decided 36 days
  2. Prior approval 109 decided 42 days
  3. Amendments 200 decided 47 days
  4. Advertising 82 decided 57 days
  5. Conditions 249 decided 57 days
  6. Heritage and listed buildings 106 decided 57 days
  7. Lawful development 57 decided 60 days
  8. Full applications 844 decided 79 days
  9. Outline 15 decided 87 days
  10. Reserved matters 18 decided 126 days

How these types compare nationally

What County Durham decides

Year to December 2026

County Durham issued 2,399 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 93% were approvals: 2,035 granted against 146 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 County Durham?

The median planning application decided by County Durham in the year to December 2026 took 58 days from submission to decision, 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 2,399 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 24 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does County Durham meet the eight week target?

45% of the 2,399 decisions County Durham made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 70% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 228 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is County Durham faster or slower than average?

County Durham is slower than average: its median of 58 days is 1 day above the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does County Durham approve?

93% of the clear-cut outcomes County Durham issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 2,035 granted against 146 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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County Durham planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 58 days from application to decision (2 days beyond the eight week target), across 2,399 decisions with both dates published. 45% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 70% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 228 days. Ranked 24 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 93% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.

Or take the data itself: this council's history (CSV) or the full league table (CSV).

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