Decision times · Wales
How long planning decisions take in Neath Port Talbot
58 days. Ranked 26 of 45.
In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Neath Port Talbot took 58 days from submission to decision — 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 503 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Neath Port Talbot compares
Year to December 2026
Neath Port Talbot takes longer than the country as a whole: 1 day above the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 48%.
The average here is 86 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 159 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 241 48%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 126 25%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 136 27%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| December 2026 | 58 | 26 of 45 |
| September 2026 | 56 | 31 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 21 decided 45 days
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Lawful development 34 decided 45 days
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Conditions 45 decided 51 days
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Trees 12 decided 53 days
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Full applications 168 decided 80 days
What Neath Port Talbot decides
Year to December 2026
Neath Port Talbot issued 503 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 97% were approvals: 388 granted against 12 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 Neath Port Talbot?
The median planning application decided by Neath Port Talbot in the year to December 2026 took 58 days from submission to decision, 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 503 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 26 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Neath Port Talbot meet the eight week target?
48% of the 503 decisions Neath Port Talbot made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 73% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 159 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Neath Port Talbot faster or slower than average?
Neath Port Talbot is slower than average: its median of 58 days is 1 day above the national median of 57 days.
What proportion of applications does Neath Port Talbot approve?
97% of the clear-cut outcomes Neath Port Talbot issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 388 granted against 12 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
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Neath Port Talbot planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 58 days from application to decision (2 days beyond the eight week target), across 503 decisions with both dates published. 48% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 73% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 159 days. Ranked 26 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 97% 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/neath-port-talbot">Planning decision times, from PlanIndex</a></p>