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Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in Exeter

51 days. Ranked 43 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Exeter took 51 days from submission to decision — 5 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,237 decisions where the council published both dates.

51 days
Median decision 5 days inside the eight week target
43 of 343
UK rank up 121 places in a year
59%
Within eight weeks 81% within thirteen
130 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Exeter compares

Year to September 2026

Exeter decides faster than the country as a whole: 5 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 59%.

The average here is 68 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 130 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 728 59%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 280 23%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 229 19%

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.

Exeter: 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 51 43 of 343
June 2026 49 42 of 328
March 2026 49 55 of 243
December 2025 49 89 of 236
September 2025 56 164 of 324
June 2025 56 119 of 313
March 2025 55 87 of 315
December 2024 53 63 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 56 days, Exeter has moved up 121 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. Telecoms 23 decided 15 days
  2. Trees 268 decided 31 days
  3. Amendments 66 decided 32 days
  4. Conditions 164 decided 42 days
  5. Lawful development 133 decided 47 days
  6. Prior approval 35 decided 52 days
  7. Advertising 62 decided 54 days
  8. Full applications 369 decided 69 days
  9. Heritage and listed buildings 108 decided 71 days

How these types compare nationally

What Exeter decides

Year to September 2026

Exeter issued 1,237 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 87% were approvals: 802 granted against 124 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 Exeter?

The median planning application decided by Exeter in the year to September 2026 took 51 days from submission to decision, 5 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,237 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 43 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Exeter meet the eight week target?

59% of the 1,237 decisions Exeter made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 81% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 130 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Exeter faster or slower than average?

Exeter is faster than average: its median of 51 days is 5 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Exeter getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 56 days, Exeter has moved up 121 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 5 days.

What proportion of applications does Exeter approve?

87% of the clear-cut outcomes Exeter issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 802 granted against 124 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Exeter planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 51 days from application to decision (5 days inside the eight week target), across 1,237 decisions with both dates published. 59% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 81% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 130 days. Ranked 43 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 87% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.