Decision times · North East
How long planning decisions take in Gateshead
132 days. Ranked 337 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Gateshead took 132 days from submission to decision — 76 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 85 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Gateshead compares
Year to September 2026
Gateshead takes longer than the country as a whole: 76 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 28%.
The average here is 225 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 475 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 24 28%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 11 13%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 50 59%
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.
| Twelve months to | Median days | UK rank |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 132 | 337 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 161 | 326 of 328 |
| September 2025 | 85 | 300 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 85 | 283 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 86 | 292 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 86 | 296 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 85 days, Gateshead has moved down 37 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.
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Trees 23 decided 34 days
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Conditions 17 decided 121 days
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Householder 16 decided 155 days
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Full applications 24 decided 294 days
What Gateshead decides
Year to September 2026
Gateshead issued 85 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 89% were approvals: 51 granted against 6 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 Gateshead?
The median planning application decided by Gateshead in the year to September 2026 took 132 days from submission to decision, 76 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 85 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 337 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Gateshead meet the eight week target?
28% of the 85 decisions Gateshead made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 41% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 475 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Gateshead faster or slower than average?
Gateshead is slower than average: its median of 132 days is 76 days above the national median of 56 days.
Is Gateshead getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 85 days, Gateshead has moved down 37 places in the table. Its median has risen by 47 days.
What proportion of applications does Gateshead approve?
89% of the clear-cut outcomes Gateshead issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 51 granted against 6 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Gateshead planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 132 days from application to decision (76 days beyond the eight week target), across 85 decisions with both dates published. 28% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 41% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 475 days. Ranked 337 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 89% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.