Decision times · Wales
How long planning decisions take in Merthyr Tydfil
49 days.
In the year to December 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 189 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.
How Merthyr Tydfil compares
Year to December 2026
Merthyr Tydfil decides faster than the country as a whole: 8 days below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 65%.
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, 155 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 122 65%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 26 14%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 41 22%
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 | 47 | 4 of 56 |
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.
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Amendments 12 decided 31 days
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Conditions 29 decided 49 days
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Full applications 69 decided 54 days
What Merthyr Tydfil decides
Year to December 2026
Merthyr Tydfil issued 189 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 92% were approvals: 165 granted against 14 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 December 2026 took 49 days from submission to decision, 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 189 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.
Does Merthyr Tydfil meet the eight week target?
65% of the 189 decisions Merthyr Tydfil made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 78% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 155 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 8 days below the national median of 57 days.
What proportion of applications does Merthyr Tydfil approve?
92% of the clear-cut outcomes Merthyr Tydfil issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 165 granted against 14 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 December 2026: median 49 days from application to decision (7 days inside the eight week target), across 189 decisions with both dates published. 65% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 78% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 155 days. 92% 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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<p>Data: <a href="https://planindex.co.uk/planning-decision-times/merthyr-tydfil">Planning decision times, from PlanIndex</a></p>