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Decision times · East Midlands

How long planning decisions take in Harborough

74 days. Ranked 283 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Harborough took 74 days from submission to decision — 18 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 678 decisions where the council published both dates.

74 days
Median decision 18 days beyond the eight week target
283 of 343
UK rank down 74 places in a year
32%
Within eight weeks 60% within thirteen
213 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Harborough compares

Year to September 2026

Harborough takes longer than the country as a whole: 18 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 32%.

The average here is 106 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 213 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 220 32%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 189 28%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 269 40%

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.

Harborough: 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 74 283 of 343
June 2026 69 276 of 328
March 2026 72 216 of 243
December 2025 69 209 of 236
September 2025 58 209 of 324
June 2025 55 92 of 313
March 2025 55 96 of 315
December 2024 55 87 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 58 days, Harborough has moved down 74 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. Trees 116 decided 42 days
  2. Prior approval 37 decided 56 days
  3. Lawful development 27 decided 63 days
  4. Advertising 12 decided 69 days
  5. Amendments 47 decided 79 days
  6. Conditions 73 decided 85 days
  7. Full applications 283 decided 88 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 44 decided 119 days
  9. Outline 25 decided 158 days

How these types compare nationally

What Harborough decides

Year to September 2026

Harborough issued 678 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 90% were approvals: 578 granted against 65 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 Harborough?

The median planning application decided by Harborough in the year to September 2026 took 74 days from submission to decision, 18 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 678 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 283 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Harborough meet the eight week target?

32% of the 678 decisions Harborough made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 60% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 213 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Harborough faster or slower than average?

Harborough is slower than average: its median of 74 days is 18 days above the national median of 56 days.

Is Harborough getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 58 days, Harborough has moved down 74 places in the table. Its median has risen by 16 days.

What proportion of applications does Harborough approve?

90% of the clear-cut outcomes Harborough issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 578 granted against 65 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Harborough planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 74 days from application to decision (18 days beyond the eight week target), across 678 decisions with both dates published. 32% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 60% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 213 days. Ranked 283 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 90% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.