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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Guildford

63 days. Ranked 239 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Guildford took 63 days from submission to decision — 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,637 decisions where the council published both dates.

63 days
Median decision 7 days beyond the eight week target
239 of 343
UK rank down 18 places in a year
43%
Within eight weeks 71% within thirteen
149 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Guildford compares

Year to September 2026

Guildford 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 43%.

The average here is 82 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 149 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 706 43%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 455 28%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 476 29%

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.

Guildford: 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 63 239 of 343
June 2026 58 215 of 328
March 2026 55 137 of 243
December 2025 49 90 of 236
September 2025 60 221 of 324
June 2025 62 211 of 313
March 2025 62 216 of 315
December 2024 62 224 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 60 days, Guildford has moved down 18 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. Amendments 73 decided 34 days
  2. Trees 224 decided 42 days
  3. Outline 17 decided 48 days
  4. Advertising 35 decided 56 days
  5. Lawful development 195 decided 62 days
  6. Conditions 261 decided 66 days
  7. Heritage and listed buildings 62 decided 78 days
  8. Full applications 711 decided 82 days

How these types compare nationally

What Guildford decides

Year to September 2026

Guildford issued 1,637 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 87% were approvals: 1,327 granted against 196 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 Guildford?

The median planning application decided by Guildford in the year to September 2026 took 63 days from submission to decision, 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,637 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 239 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Guildford meet the eight week target?

43% of the 1,637 decisions Guildford made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 71% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 149 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Guildford faster or slower than average?

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

Is Guildford getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 60 days, Guildford has moved down 18 places in the table. Its median has risen by 3 days.

What proportion of applications does Guildford approve?

87% of the clear-cut outcomes Guildford issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,327 granted against 196 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Guildford planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 63 days from application to decision (7 days beyond the eight week target), across 1,637 decisions with both dates published. 43% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 71% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 149 days. Ranked 239 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 87% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.