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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Ealing

56 days. Ranked 121 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Ealing took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 3,211 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
121 of 343
UK rank down 42 places in a year
59%
Within eight weeks 83% within thirteen
113 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Ealing compares

Year to September 2026

Ealing sits exactly on the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 59%.

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

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,897 59%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 777 24%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 537 17%

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
September 2026 56 121 of 343
June 2026 55 113 of 328
March 2026 54 110 of 243
December 2025 54 144 of 236
September 2025 50 79 of 324
June 2025 53 60 of 313
March 2025 53 62 of 315
December 2024 53 64 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 50 days, Ealing has moved down 42 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. Outline 91 decided 20 days
  2. Trees 328 decided 21 days
  3. Prior approval 196 decided 40 days
  4. Amendments 149 decided 50 days
  5. Lawful development 684 decided 54 days
  6. Conditions 521 decided 56 days
  7. Advertising 43 decided 57 days
  8. Householder 590 decided 61 days
  9. Full applications 580 decided 73 days
  10. Heritage and listed buildings 23 decided 78 days

How these types compare nationally

What Ealing decides

Year to September 2026

Ealing issued 3,211 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 87% were approvals: 2,648 granted against 401 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 September 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 3,211 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 121 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Ealing meet the eight week target?

59% of the 3,211 decisions Ealing made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 83% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 113 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 sits exactly on the national median of 56 days.

Is Ealing getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 50 days, Ealing has moved down 42 places in the table. Its median has risen by 6 days.

What proportion of applications does Ealing approve?

87% of the clear-cut outcomes Ealing issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 2,648 granted against 401 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Ealing planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 3,211 decisions with both dates published. 59% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 83% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 113 days. Ranked 121 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 87% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.