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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Enfield

63 days. Ranked 244 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Enfield took 63 days from submission to decision — 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 486 decisions where the council published both dates.

63 days
Median decision 7 days beyond the eight week target
244 of 343
UK rank down 125 places in a year
40%
Within eight weeks 84% within thirteen
105 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Enfield compares

Year to September 2026

Enfield takes longer than the country as a whole: 7 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 40%.

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

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 194 40%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 212 44%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 80 16%

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.

Enfield: 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 63 244 of 343
June 2026 56 184 of 328
March 2026 52 94 of 243
December 2025 53 140 of 236
September 2025 53 119 of 324
June 2025 43 12 of 313
December 2024 56 120 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 53 days, Enfield has moved down 125 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. Prior approval 37 decided 37 days
  2. Trees 17 decided 44 days
  3. Lawful development 83 decided 50 days
  4. Conditions 77 decided 56 days
  5. Householder 95 decided 68 days
  6. Full applications 142 decided 72 days
  7. Amendments 15 decided 75 days

How these types compare nationally

What Enfield decides

Year to September 2026

Enfield issued 486 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 77% were approvals: 367 granted against 110 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 Enfield?

The median planning application decided by Enfield in the year to September 2026 took 63 days from submission to decision, 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 486 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 244 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Enfield meet the eight week target?

40% of the 486 decisions Enfield made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 84% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 105 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Enfield faster or slower than average?

Enfield is slower than average: its median of 63 days is 7 days above the national median of 56 days.

Is Enfield getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 53 days, Enfield has moved down 125 places in the table. Its median has risen by 10 days.

What proportion of applications does Enfield approve?

77% of the clear-cut outcomes Enfield issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 367 granted against 110 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Enfield planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 63 days from application to decision (7 days beyond the eight week target), across 486 decisions with both dates published. 40% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 84% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 105 days. Ranked 244 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 77% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.