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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Hounslow

56 days. Ranked 122 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Hounslow took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 2,503 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
122 of 343
UK rank up 8 places in a year
60%
Within eight weeks 86% within thirteen
106 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Hounslow compares

Year to September 2026

Hounslow sits exactly on the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 60%.

The average here is 62 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 106 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,507 60%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 647 26%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 349 14%

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.

Hounslow: 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 56 122 of 343
June 2026 55 115 of 328
March 2026 54 111 of 243
December 2025 44 50 of 236
September 2025 55 130 of 324
June 2025 56 120 of 313
March 2025 56 122 of 315
December 2024 56 124 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 55 days, Hounslow has moved up 8 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. Amendments 68 decided 28 days
  2. Trees 445 decided 28 days
  3. Prior approval 220 decided 39 days
  4. Lawful development 400 decided 55 days
  5. Conditions 313 decided 56 days
  6. Outline 39 decided 56 days
  7. Advertising 75 decided 57 days
  8. Householder 599 decided 62 days
  9. Heritage and listed buildings 33 decided 70 days
  10. Full applications 310 decided 75 days

How these types compare nationally

What Hounslow decides

Year to September 2026

Hounslow issued 2,503 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 87% were approvals: 2,170 granted against 318 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 Hounslow?

The median planning application decided by Hounslow in the year to September 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 2,503 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 122 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Hounslow meet the eight week target?

60% of the 2,503 decisions Hounslow made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 86% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 106 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Hounslow faster or slower than average?

Hounslow sits exactly on the national median of 56 days.

Is Hounslow getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 55 days, Hounslow has moved up 8 places in the table. Its median has risen by 1 day.

What proportion of applications does Hounslow approve?

87% of the clear-cut outcomes Hounslow issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 2,170 granted against 318 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Hounslow planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 2,503 decisions with both dates published. 60% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 86% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 106 days. Ranked 122 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 87% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.