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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Ealing

56 days. Ranked 11 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Ealing took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 3,282 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
11 of 45
UK rank First measured window
56%
Within eight weeks 80% within thirteen
126 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Ealing compares

Year to December 2026

Ealing decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 56%.

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, 126 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,826 56%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 813 25%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 643 20%

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.

Ealing: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2026 56 11 of 45
September 2026 56 18 of 56
June 2026 55 16 of 39
March 2026 54 10 of 38

By type of application

Year to December 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 180 decided 19 days
  2. Outline 71 decided 20 days
  3. Prior approval 135 decided 39 days
  4. Lawful development 523 decided 52 days
  5. Amendments 111 decided 56 days
  6. Conditions 422 decided 56 days
  7. Advertising 39 decided 59 days
  8. Householder 476 decided 63 days
  9. Heritage and listed buildings 21 decided 74 days
  10. Full applications 464 decided 80 days

How these types compare nationally

What Ealing decides

Year to December 2026

Ealing issued 3,282 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 86% were approvals: 2,662 granted against 428 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 Ealing?

The median planning application decided by Ealing in the year to December 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 3,282 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 11 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Ealing meet the eight week target?

56% of the 3,282 decisions Ealing made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 80% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 126 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Ealing faster or slower than average?

Ealing is faster than average: its median of 56 days is 1 day below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Ealing approve?

86% of the clear-cut outcomes Ealing issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 2,662 granted against 428 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Ealing planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 3,282 decisions with both dates published. 56% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 80% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 126 days. Ranked 11 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 86% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.

Or take the data itself: this council's history (CSV) or the full league table (CSV).

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