Decision times · Wales
How long planning decisions take in Merthyr Tydfil
49 days. Ranked 29 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Merthyr Tydfil took 49 days from submission to decision — 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 194 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Merthyr Tydfil compares
Year to September 2026
Merthyr Tydfil decides faster than the country as a whole: 7 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 69%.
The average here is 63 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 126 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 133 69%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 25 13%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 36 19%
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.
| Twelve months to | Median days | UK rank |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 49 | 29 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 45 | 25 of 328 |
| March 2026 | 42 | 26 of 243 |
| December 2025 | 41 | 37 of 236 |
| September 2025 | 48 | 62 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 52 | 56 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 52 | 59 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 52 | 61 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 48 days, Merthyr Tydfil has moved up 33 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.
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Amendments 12 decided 27 days
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Conditions 44 decided 37 days
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Lawful development 12 decided 38 days
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Full applications 100 decided 53 days
What Merthyr Tydfil decides
Year to September 2026
Merthyr Tydfil issued 194 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 91% were approvals: 171 granted against 17 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 Merthyr Tydfil?
The median planning application decided by Merthyr Tydfil in the year to September 2026 took 49 days from submission to decision, 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 194 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 29 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Merthyr Tydfil meet the eight week target?
69% of the 194 decisions Merthyr Tydfil made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 81% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 126 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Merthyr Tydfil faster or slower than average?
Merthyr Tydfil is faster than average: its median of 49 days is 7 days below the national median of 56 days.
Is Merthyr Tydfil getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 48 days, Merthyr Tydfil has moved up 33 places in the table. Its median has risen by 1 day.
What proportion of applications does Merthyr Tydfil approve?
91% of the clear-cut outcomes Merthyr Tydfil issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 171 granted against 17 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Merthyr Tydfil planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 49 days from application to decision (7 days inside the eight week target), across 194 decisions with both dates published. 69% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 81% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 126 days. Ranked 29 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 91% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.