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Decision times · Yorkshire and The Humber

How long planning decisions take in Doncaster

53 days. Ranked 74 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Doncaster took 53 days from submission to decision — 3 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 559 decisions where the council published both dates.

53 days
Median decision 3 days inside the eight week target
74 of 343
UK rank up 28 places in a year
57%
Within eight weeks 79% within thirteen
146 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Doncaster compares

Year to September 2026

Doncaster decides faster than the country as a whole: 3 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 57%.

The average here is 72 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 146 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 317 57%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 122 22%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 120 21%

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.

Doncaster: 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 53 74 of 343
June 2026 56 182 of 328
March 2026 53 104 of 243
December 2025 52 126 of 236
September 2025 52 102 of 324
June 2025 55 102 of 313
March 2025 63 227 of 315
December 2024 66 249 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 52 days, Doncaster has moved up 28 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. Telecoms 26 decided 7 days
  2. Amendments 13 decided 24 days
  3. Other 13 decided 24 days
  4. Trees 66 decided 32 days
  5. Lawful development 44 decided 41 days
  6. Conditions 189 decided 62 days
  7. Full applications 179 decided 64 days

How these types compare nationally

What Doncaster decides

Year to September 2026

Doncaster issued 559 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 89% were approvals: 361 granted against 45 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 Doncaster?

The median planning application decided by Doncaster in the year to September 2026 took 53 days from submission to decision, 3 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 559 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 74 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Doncaster meet the eight week target?

57% of the 559 decisions Doncaster made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 79% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 146 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Doncaster faster or slower than average?

Doncaster is faster than average: its median of 53 days is 3 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Doncaster getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 52 days, Doncaster has moved up 28 places in the table. Its median has risen by 1 day.

What proportion of applications does Doncaster approve?

89% of the clear-cut outcomes Doncaster issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 361 granted against 45 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Doncaster planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 53 days from application to decision (3 days inside the eight week target), across 559 decisions with both dates published. 57% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 79% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 146 days. Ranked 74 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 89% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.