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Decision times · West Midlands

How long planning decisions take in Dudley

55 days. Ranked 103 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Dudley took 55 days from submission to decision — 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 977 decisions where the council published both dates.

55 days
Median decision 1 day inside the eight week target
103 of 343
UK rank up 146 places in a year
63%
Within eight weeks 85% within thirteen
108 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Dudley compares

Year to September 2026

Dudley decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 63%.

The average here is 65 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 108 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 619 63%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 211 22%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 147 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.

Dudley: 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 55 103 of 343
June 2026 55 130 of 328
March 2026 55 145 of 243
December 2025 50 106 of 236
September 2025 64 249 of 324
June 2025 62 208 of 313
March 2025 62 214 of 315
December 2024 62 221 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 64 days, Dudley has moved up 146 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. Amendments 30 decided 28 days
  2. Lawful development 102 decided 39 days
  3. Prior approval 74 decided 41 days
  4. Advertising 38 decided 50 days
  5. Heritage and listed buildings 12 decided 55 days
  6. Full applications 533 decided 56 days
  7. Conditions 62 decided 64 days
  8. Trees 91 decided 78 days

How these types compare nationally

What Dudley decides

Year to September 2026

Dudley issued 977 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 86% were approvals: 790 granted against 128 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 Dudley?

The median planning application decided by Dudley in the year to September 2026 took 55 days from submission to decision, 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 977 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 103 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Dudley meet the eight week target?

63% of the 977 decisions Dudley 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 108 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Dudley faster or slower than average?

Dudley is faster than average: its median of 55 days is 1 day below the national median of 56 days.

Is Dudley getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 64 days, Dudley has moved up 146 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 9 days.

What proportion of applications does Dudley approve?

86% of the clear-cut outcomes Dudley issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 790 granted against 128 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Dudley planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 55 days from application to decision (1 day inside the eight week target), across 977 decisions with both dates published. 63% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 85% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 108 days. Ranked 103 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 86% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.