Decision times · North East
How long planning decisions take in Hartlepool
71 days. Ranked 279 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Hartlepool took 71 days from submission to decision — 15 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 88 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Hartlepool compares
Year to September 2026
Hartlepool takes longer than the country as a whole: 15 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 34%.
The average here is 110 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 265 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 30 34%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 27 31%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 31 35%
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 | 71 | 279 of 343 |
| September 2025 | 88 | 303 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 88 | 288 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 95 | 300 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 88 | 297 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 88 days, Hartlepool has moved up 24 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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Conditions 17 decided 99 days
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Full applications 40 decided 106 days
What Hartlepool decides
Year to September 2026
Hartlepool issued 88 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 97% were approvals: 76 granted against 2 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 Hartlepool?
The median planning application decided by Hartlepool in the year to September 2026 took 71 days from submission to decision, 15 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 88 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 279 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Hartlepool meet the eight week target?
34% of the 88 decisions Hartlepool made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 65% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 265 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Hartlepool faster or slower than average?
Hartlepool is slower than average: its median of 71 days is 15 days above the national median of 56 days.
Is Hartlepool getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 88 days, Hartlepool has moved up 24 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 17 days.
What proportion of applications does Hartlepool approve?
97% of the clear-cut outcomes Hartlepool issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 76 granted against 2 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Hartlepool planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 71 days from application to decision (15 days beyond the eight week target), across 88 decisions with both dates published. 34% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 65% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 265 days. Ranked 279 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 97% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.