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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Lewisham

56 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Lewisham took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 2,069 decisions where the council published both dates.

This council carries a figure but no rank

Not ranked yet: our records do not yet pass the historical coverage, monthly continuity, missing-date and refresh checks for this window. The figure above is still what the published dates say; it is left out of the league table so it cannot distort the ranking. See the methodology.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
55%
Within eight weeks 89% within thirteen
93 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Lewisham compares

Year to December 2026

Lewisham decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 55%.

The average here is 57 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 93 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,138 55%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 707 34%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 224 11%

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.

Lewisham: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
June 2026 52 10 of 39
March 2026 50 5 of 38
December 2025 50 4 of 24
September 2025 56 10 of 27
June 2025 57 14 of 31
March 2025 57 15 of 30
December 2024 57 30 of 57

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. Telecoms 91 decided 14 days
  2. Trees 340 decided 33 days
  3. Amendments 72 decided 36 days
  4. Prior approval 76 decided 39 days
  5. Lawful development 190 decided 56 days
  6. Advertising 20 decided 57 days
  7. Conditions 13 decided 57 days
  8. Householder 287 decided 58 days
  9. Full applications 495 decided 59 days
  10. Heritage and listed buildings 17 decided 93 days

How these types compare nationally

What Lewisham decides

Year to December 2026

Lewisham issued 2,073 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 88% were approvals: 1,673 granted against 230 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 Lewisham?

The median planning application decided by Lewisham in the year to December 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 2,069 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Lewisham meet the eight week target?

55% of the 2,069 decisions Lewisham made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 89% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 93 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Lewisham faster or slower than average?

Lewisham is faster than average: its median of 56 days is 1 day below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Lewisham approve?

88% of the clear-cut outcomes Lewisham issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 1,673 granted against 230 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Lewisham planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 2,069 decisions with both dates published. 55% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 89% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 93 days. 88% 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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