Decision times · London
How long planning decisions take in Merton
48 days. Ranked 20 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Merton took 48 days from submission to decision — 8 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 936 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Merton compares
Year to September 2026
Merton decides faster than the country as a whole: 8 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 75%.
The average here is 50 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 75 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 704 75%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 196 21%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 36 4%
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 | 48 | 20 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 47 | 30 of 328 |
| March 2026 | 47 | 38 of 243 |
| December 2025 | 43 | 43 of 236 |
| September 2025 | 38 | 30 of 324 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 38 days, Merton has moved up 10 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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Householder 79 decided 32 days
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Trees 278 decided 41 days
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Outline 131 decided 47 days
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Amendments 49 decided 54 days
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Conditions 103 decided 54 days
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Full applications 274 decided 56 days
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Advertising 13 decided 60 days
What Merton decides
Year to September 2026
Merton issued 936 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 92% were approvals: 734 granted against 65 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 Merton?
The median planning application decided by Merton in the year to September 2026 took 48 days from submission to decision, 8 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 936 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 20 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Merton meet the eight week target?
75% of the 936 decisions Merton made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 96% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 75 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Merton faster or slower than average?
Merton is faster than average: its median of 48 days is 8 days below the national median of 56 days.
Is Merton getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 38 days, Merton has moved up 10 places in the table. Its median has risen by 10 days.
What proportion of applications does Merton approve?
92% of the clear-cut outcomes Merton issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 734 granted against 65 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
Click the text to select the whole citation.
Merton planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 48 days from application to decision (8 days inside the eight week target), across 936 decisions with both dates published. 75% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 96% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 75 days. Ranked 20 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 92% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.