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Decision times · East Midlands

How long planning decisions take in Derby

78 days. Ranked 298 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Derby took 78 days from submission to decision — 22 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 417 decisions where the council published both dates.

78 days
Median decision 22 days beyond the eight week target
298 of 343
UK rank down 35 places in a year
30%
Within eight weeks 58% within thirteen
231 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Derby compares

Year to September 2026

Derby takes longer than the country as a whole: 22 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 30%.

The average here is 117 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 231 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 126 30%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 115 28%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 176 42%

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.

Derby: 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 78 298 of 343
June 2026 66 272 of 328
March 2026 84 225 of 243
December 2025 79 217 of 236
September 2025 66 263 of 324
June 2025 70 263 of 313
March 2025 61 202 of 315
December 2024 58 180 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 66 days, Derby has moved down 35 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. Prior approval 15 decided 36 days
  2. Lawful development 19 decided 51 days
  3. Advertising 11 decided 63 days
  4. Trees 35 decided 64 days
  5. Amendments 32 decided 83 days
  6. Full applications 228 decided 89 days
  7. Heritage and listed buildings 11 decided 98 days
  8. Conditions 52 decided 128 days

How these types compare nationally

What Derby decides

Year to September 2026

Derby issued 417 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 90% were approvals: 315 granted against 35 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 Derby?

The median planning application decided by Derby in the year to September 2026 took 78 days from submission to decision, 22 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 417 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 298 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Derby meet the eight week target?

30% of the 417 decisions Derby made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 58% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 231 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Derby faster or slower than average?

Derby is slower than average: its median of 78 days is 22 days above the national median of 56 days.

Is Derby getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 66 days, Derby has moved down 35 places in the table. Its median has risen by 12 days.

What proportion of applications does Derby approve?

90% of the clear-cut outcomes Derby issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 315 granted against 35 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Derby planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 78 days from application to decision (22 days beyond the eight week target), across 417 decisions with both dates published. 30% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 58% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 231 days. Ranked 298 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 90% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.