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Decision times · North West

How long planning decisions take in Lancaster

55 days. Ranked 112 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Lancaster took 55 days from submission to decision — 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 554 decisions where the council published both dates.

55 days
Median decision 1 day inside the eight week target
112 of 343
UK rank up 2 places in a year
53%
Within eight weeks 73% within thirteen
149 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Lancaster compares

Year to September 2026

Lancaster decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 53%.

The average here is 79 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 149 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 296 53%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 110 20%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 148 27%

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.

Lancaster: 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 55 112 of 343
June 2026 54 108 of 328
March 2026 53 100 of 243
December 2025 42 40 of 236
September 2025 53 114 of 324
June 2025 55 99 of 313
March 2025 55 102 of 315
December 2024 55 90 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 53 days, Lancaster has moved up 2 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. Outline 17 decided 23 days
  2. Other 10 decided 25 days
  3. Amendments 13 decided 28 days
  4. Trees 81 decided 29 days
  5. Prior approval 11 decided 38 days
  6. Lawful development 55 decided 48 days
  7. Conditions 105 decided 57 days
  8. Full applications 208 decided 77 days
  9. Heritage and listed buildings 42 decided 91 days

How these types compare nationally

What Lancaster decides

Year to September 2026

Lancaster issued 554 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 86% were approvals: 421 granted against 70 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 Lancaster?

The median planning application decided by Lancaster in the year to September 2026 took 55 days from submission to decision, 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 554 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 112 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Lancaster meet the eight week target?

53% of the 554 decisions Lancaster made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 73% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 149 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Lancaster faster or slower than average?

Lancaster is faster than average: its median of 55 days is 1 day below the national median of 56 days.

Is Lancaster getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 53 days, Lancaster has moved up 2 places in the table. Its median has risen by 2 days.

What proportion of applications does Lancaster approve?

86% of the clear-cut outcomes Lancaster issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 421 granted against 70 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Lancaster planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 55 days from application to decision (1 day inside the eight week target), across 554 decisions with both dates published. 53% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 73% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 149 days. Ranked 112 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 86% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.