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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Havering

64 days. Ranked 31 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Havering took 64 days from submission to decision — 8 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 2,155 decisions where the council published both dates.

64 days
Median decision 8 days beyond the eight week target
31 of 45
UK rank down 18 places in a year
34%
Within eight weeks 78% within thirteen
139 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Havering compares

Year to December 2026

Havering takes longer than the country as a whole: 7 days above the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 34%.

The average here is 86 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 139 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 733 34%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 945 44%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 477 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.

Havering: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2026 64 31 of 45
September 2026 63 44 of 56
June 2026 63 33 of 39
March 2026 67 28 of 38
December 2025 64 13 of 24
September 2025 63 18 of 27
June 2025 59 17 of 31
March 2025 58 16 of 30
December 2024 58 31 of 57

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 64 days, Havering has moved down 18 places in the table.

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. Trees 103 decided 39 days
  2. Outline 545 decided 56 days
  3. Amendments 61 decided 66 days
  4. Conditions 214 decided 67 days
  5. Full applications 1,089 decided 74 days
  6. Advertising 29 decided 85 days

How these types compare nationally

What Havering decides

Year to December 2026

Havering issued 2,155 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 99% were approvals: 1,935 granted against 28 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 December 2026 took 64 days from submission to decision, 8 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 2,155 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 31 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Havering meet the eight week target?

34% of the 2,155 decisions Havering 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 139 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 64 days is 7 days above the national median of 57 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 down 18 places in the table. Its median has not changed.

What proportion of applications does Havering approve?

99% of the clear-cut outcomes Havering issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 1,935 granted against 28 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Havering planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 64 days from application to decision (8 days beyond the eight week target), across 2,155 decisions with both dates published. 34% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 78% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 139 days. Ranked 31 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 99% 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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