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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Havering

63 days. Ranked 237 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Havering took 63 days from submission to decision — 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 2,286 decisions where the council published both dates.

63 days
Median decision 7 days beyond the eight week target
237 of 343
UK rank up 11 places in a year
38%
Within eight weeks 80% within thirteen
133 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Havering compares

Year to September 2026

Havering 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 38%.

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, 133 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 872 38%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 952 42%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 462 20%

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.

Havering: 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 63 237 of 343
June 2026 63 249 of 328
March 2026 66 210 of 243
December 2025 66 205 of 236
September 2025 64 248 of 324
June 2025 59 177 of 313
March 2025 58 170 of 315
December 2024 57 157 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 64 days, Havering has moved up 11 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 143 decided 37 days
  2. Amendments 68 decided 56 days
  3. Outline 635 decided 56 days
  4. Conditions 224 decided 57 days
  5. Full applications 1,181 decided 71 days
  6. Advertising 21 decided 77 days

How these types compare nationally

What Havering decides

Year to September 2026

Havering issued 2,286 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 100% were approvals: 2,227 granted against 1 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 Havering?

The median planning application decided by Havering in the year to September 2026 took 63 days from submission to decision, 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 2,286 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 237 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Havering meet the eight week target?

38% of the 2,286 decisions Havering made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 80% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 133 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Havering faster or slower than average?

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

Is Havering getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 64 days, Havering has moved up 11 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 1 day.

What proportion of applications does Havering approve?

100% of the clear-cut outcomes Havering issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 2,227 granted against 1 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Havering planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 63 days from application to decision (7 days beyond the eight week target), across 2,286 decisions with both dates published. 38% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 80% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 133 days. Ranked 237 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 100% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.