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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Hart

57 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Hart took 57 days from submission to decision — 1 day beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,331 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.

57 days
Median decision 1 day beyond the eight week target
49%
Within eight weeks 78% within thirteen
135 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Hart compares

Year to December 2026

Hart sits exactly on the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 49%.

The average here is 76 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 135 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 655 49%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 383 29%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 293 22%

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.

Hart: 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 56 21 of 56
June 2026 57 26 of 39
March 2026 57 21 of 38

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. Telecoms 33 decided 9 days
  2. Amendments 14 decided 33 days
  3. Lawful development 91 decided 56 days
  4. Trees 389 decided 57 days
  5. Outline 69 decided 58 days
  6. Conditions 111 decided 61 days
  7. Householder 302 decided 61 days
  8. Advertising 10 decided 82 days
  9. Full applications 78 decided 86 days
  10. Heritage and listed buildings 57 decided 97 days

How these types compare nationally

What Hart decides

Year to December 2026

Hart issued 1,331 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 93% were approvals: 1,040 granted against 81 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 Hart?

The median planning application decided by Hart in the year to December 2026 took 57 days from submission to decision, 1 day beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,331 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Hart meet the eight week target?

49% of the 1,331 decisions Hart made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 78% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 135 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Hart faster or slower than average?

Hart sits exactly on the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Hart approve?

93% of the clear-cut outcomes Hart issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 1,040 granted against 81 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Hart planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 57 days from application to decision (1 day beyond the eight week target), across 1,331 decisions with both dates published. 49% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 78% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 135 days. 93% 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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