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Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in Exmoor National Park

49 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Exmoor National Park took 49 days from submission to decision — 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 4,493 decisions where the council published both dates.

This council carries a figure but no rank

Not ranked yet: our records do not yet pass the historical coverage, monthly continuity, missing-date and refresh checks for this window. The figure above is still what the published dates say; it is left out of the league table so it cannot distort the ranking. See the methodology.

49 days
Median decision 7 days inside the eight week target
65%
Within eight weeks 86% within thirteen
111 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Exmoor National Park compares

Year to December 2026

Exmoor National Park decides faster than the country as a whole: 8 days below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 65%.

The average here is 66 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 111 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 2,910 65%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 959 21%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 624 14%

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.

Exmoor National Park: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2024 49 6 of 57

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. Other 206 decided 18 days
  2. Telecoms 22 decided 27 days
  3. Prior approval 51 decided 31 days
  4. Trees 708 decided 41 days
  5. Lawful development 236 decided 42 days
  6. Conditions 503 decided 43 days
  7. Amendments 350 decided 46 days
  8. Outline 158 decided 46 days
  9. Advertising 58 decided 52 days
  10. Reserved matters 35 decided 52 days
  11. Householder 529 decided 54 days
  12. Full applications 1,212 decided 57 days
  13. Heritage and listed buildings 364 decided 64 days

How these types compare nationally

What Exmoor National Park decides

Year to December 2026

Exmoor National Park issued 4,495 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 92% were approvals: 3,863 granted against 350 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 Exmoor National Park?

The median planning application decided by Exmoor National Park in the year to December 2026 took 49 days from submission to decision, 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 4,493 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Exmoor National Park meet the eight week target?

65% of the 4,493 decisions Exmoor National Park made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 86% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 111 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Exmoor National Park faster or slower than average?

Exmoor National Park is faster than average: its median of 49 days is 8 days below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Exmoor National Park approve?

92% of the clear-cut outcomes Exmoor National Park issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 3,863 granted against 350 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Exmoor National Park planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 49 days from application to decision (7 days inside the eight week target), across 4,493 decisions with both dates published. 65% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 86% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 111 days. 92% 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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