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Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in Dorset

39 days. Ranked 4 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Dorset took 39 days from submission to decision — 17 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 5,431 decisions where the council published both dates.

39 days
Median decision 17 days inside the eight week target
4 of 343
UK rank up 14 places in a year
81%
Within eight weeks 93% within thirteen
78 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Dorset compares

Year to September 2026

Dorset decides faster than the country as a whole: 17 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 81%.

The average here is 46 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 78 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 4,422 81%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 612 11%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 397 7%

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.

Dorset: 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 39 4 of 343
June 2026 37 5 of 328
March 2026 35 5 of 243
December 2025 31 5 of 236
September 2025 32 18 of 324
June 2025 38 4 of 313
March 2025 38 3 of 315
December 2024 38 4 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 32 days, Dorset has moved up 14 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. Trees 2,288 decided 26 days
  2. Prior approval 233 decided 28 days
  3. Amendments 395 decided 41 days
  4. Outline 48 decided 44 days
  5. Lawful development 255 decided 49 days
  6. Householder 1,027 decided 53 days
  7. Advertising 55 decided 55 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 456 decided 55 days
  9. Full applications 592 decided 63 days
  10. Conditions 15 decided 118 days

How these types compare nationally

What Dorset decides

Year to September 2026

Dorset issued 5,432 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 91% were approvals: 3,901 granted against 376 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 Dorset?

The median planning application decided by Dorset in the year to September 2026 took 39 days from submission to decision, 17 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 5,431 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 4 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Dorset meet the eight week target?

81% of the 5,431 decisions Dorset made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 93% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 78 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Dorset faster or slower than average?

Dorset is faster than average: its median of 39 days is 17 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Dorset getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 32 days, Dorset has moved up 14 places in the table. Its median has risen by 7 days.

What proportion of applications does Dorset approve?

91% of the clear-cut outcomes Dorset issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 3,901 granted against 376 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Dorset planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 39 days from application to decision (17 days inside the eight week target), across 5,431 decisions with both dates published. 81% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 93% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 78 days. Ranked 4 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 91% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.