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Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in Exmoor National Park

44 days. Ranked 12 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Exmoor National Park took 44 days from submission to decision — 12 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 4,836 decisions where the council published both dates.

44 days
Median decision 12 days inside the eight week target
12 of 343
UK rank up 39 places in a year
70%
Within eight weeks 89% within thirteen
97 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Exmoor National Park compares

Year to September 2026

Exmoor National Park decides faster than the country as a whole: 12 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 70%.

The average here is 61 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 97 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 3,395 70%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 911 19%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 530 11%

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
September 2026 44 12 of 343
June 2026 43 16 of 328
March 2026 42 18 of 243
December 2025 39 26 of 236
September 2025 47 51 of 324
June 2025 49 26 of 313
March 2025 49 24 of 315
December 2024 49 27 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 47 days, Exmoor National Park has moved up 39 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. Other 238 decided 18 days
  2. Prior approval 59 decided 28 days
  3. Lawful development 245 decided 35 days
  4. Telecoms 37 decided 36 days
  5. Conditions 508 decided 37 days
  6. Amendments 361 decided 41 days
  7. Trees 842 decided 41 days
  8. Outline 167 decided 43 days
  9. Advertising 60 decided 46 days
  10. Full applications 1,283 decided 51 days
  11. Householder 554 decided 51 days
  12. Heritage and listed buildings 360 decided 58 days
  13. Reserved matters 42 decided 61 days

How these types compare nationally

What Exmoor National Park decides

Year to September 2026

Exmoor National Park issued 4,839 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 92% were approvals: 3,818 granted against 354 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 September 2026 took 44 days from submission to decision, 12 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 4,836 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 12 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Exmoor National Park meet the eight week target?

70% of the 4,836 decisions Exmoor National Park made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 89% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 97 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 44 days is 12 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Exmoor National Park getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 47 days, Exmoor National Park has moved up 39 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 3 days.

What proportion of applications does Exmoor National Park approve?

92% of the clear-cut outcomes Exmoor National Park issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 3,818 granted against 354 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Exmoor National Park planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 44 days from application to decision (12 days inside the eight week target), across 4,836 decisions with both dates published. 70% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 89% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 97 days. Ranked 12 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 92% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.