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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Lambeth

56 days. Ranked 126 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Lambeth took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 2,034 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
126 of 343
UK rank up 50 places in a year
55%
Within eight weeks 87% within thirteen
100 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Lambeth compares

Year to September 2026

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

The average here is 64 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 100 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,126 55%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 638 31%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 270 13%

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.

Lambeth: 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 56 126 of 343
June 2026 56 151 of 328
March 2026 56 153 of 243
December 2025 54 146 of 236
September 2025 56 176 of 324
June 2025 59 179 of 313
March 2025 59 181 of 315
December 2024 62 220 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 56 days, Lambeth has moved up 50 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 327 decided 26 days
  2. Amendments 110 decided 33 days
  3. Prior approval 30 decided 40 days
  4. Conditions 338 decided 56 days
  5. Lawful development 228 decided 56 days
  6. Full applications 748 decided 62 days
  7. Advertising 108 decided 63 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 85 decided 72 days

How these types compare nationally

What Lambeth decides

Year to September 2026

Lambeth issued 2,034 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 83% were approvals: 1,587 granted against 324 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 Lambeth?

The median planning application decided by Lambeth in the year to September 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 2,034 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 126 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Lambeth meet the eight week target?

55% of the 2,034 decisions Lambeth made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 87% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 100 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Lambeth faster or slower than average?

Lambeth sits exactly on the national median of 56 days.

Is Lambeth getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 56 days, Lambeth has moved up 50 places in the table. Its median has not changed.

What proportion of applications does Lambeth approve?

83% of the clear-cut outcomes Lambeth issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,587 granted against 324 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Lambeth planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 2,034 decisions with both dates published. 55% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 87% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 100 days. Ranked 126 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 83% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.