Decision times · East of England
How long planning decisions take in Dacorum
52 days. Ranked 63 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Dacorum took 52 days from submission to decision — 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 797 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Dacorum compares
Year to September 2026
Dacorum 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 66%.
The average here is 71 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 115 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 530 66%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 150 19%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 117 15%
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 | 52 | 63 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 54 | 110 of 328 |
| September 2025 | 51 | 85 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 53 | 62 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 53 | 64 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 53 | 66 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 51 days, Dacorum has moved up 22 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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Trees 82 decided 16 days
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Prior approval 33 decided 31 days
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Lawful development 82 decided 50 days
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Amendments 59 decided 52 days
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Householder 242 decided 52 days
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Conditions 121 decided 56 days
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Heritage and listed buildings 49 decided 56 days
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Full applications 97 decided 96 days
What Dacorum decides
Year to September 2026
Dacorum issued 797 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 85% were approvals: 642 granted against 113 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 Dacorum?
The median planning application decided by Dacorum in the year to September 2026 took 52 days from submission to decision, 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 797 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 63 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Dacorum meet the eight week target?
66% of the 797 decisions Dacorum made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 85% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 115 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Dacorum faster or slower than average?
Dacorum is faster than average: its median of 52 days is 4 days below the national median of 56 days.
Is Dacorum getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 51 days, Dacorum has moved up 22 places in the table. Its median has risen by 1 day.
What proportion of applications does Dacorum approve?
85% of the clear-cut outcomes Dacorum issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 642 granted against 113 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Dacorum planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 52 days from application to decision (4 days inside the eight week target), across 797 decisions with both dates published. 66% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 85% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 115 days. Ranked 63 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 85% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.