Decision times · North East
How long planning decisions take in Middlesbrough
58 days. Ranked 204 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Middlesbrough took 58 days from submission to decision — 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 89 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Middlesbrough compares
Year to September 2026
Middlesbrough takes longer than the country as a whole: 2 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 47%.
The average here is 89 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 190 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 42 47%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 21 24%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 26 29%
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 | 58 | 204 of 343 |
| September 2025 | 60 | 225 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 61 | 204 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 61 | 208 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 61 | 217 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 60 days, Middlesbrough has moved up 21 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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Conditions 16 decided 48 days
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Full applications 44 decided 75 days
What Middlesbrough decides
Year to September 2026
Middlesbrough issued 89 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 81% were approvals: 55 granted against 13 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 Middlesbrough?
The median planning application decided by Middlesbrough in the year to September 2026 took 58 days from submission to decision, 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 89 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 204 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Middlesbrough meet the eight week target?
47% of the 89 decisions Middlesbrough made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 71% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 190 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Middlesbrough faster or slower than average?
Middlesbrough is slower than average: its median of 58 days is 2 days above the national median of 56 days.
Is Middlesbrough getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 60 days, Middlesbrough has moved up 21 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 2 days.
What proportion of applications does Middlesbrough approve?
81% of the clear-cut outcomes Middlesbrough issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 55 granted against 13 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Middlesbrough planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 58 days from application to decision (2 days beyond the eight week target), across 89 decisions with both dates published. 47% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 71% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 190 days. Ranked 204 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 81% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.