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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Newham

55 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Newham took 55 days from submission to decision — 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,578 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.

55 days
Median decision 1 day inside the eight week target
66%
Within eight weeks 90% within thirteen
92 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Newham compares

Year to December 2026

Newham decides faster than the country as a whole: 2 days below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 66%.

The average here is 60 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 92 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,049 66%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 367 23%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 162 10%

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.

Newham: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
June 2026 53 12 of 39

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.

  1. Telecoms 21 decided 26 days
  2. Prior approval 77 decided 41 days
  3. Trees 32 decided 41 days
  4. Amendments 47 decided 48 days
  5. Lawful development 269 decided 54 days
  6. Conditions 333 decided 55 days
  7. Advertising 82 decided 56 days
  8. Full applications 288 decided 56 days
  9. Householder 289 decided 56 days
  10. Heritage and listed buildings 14 decided 82 days

How these types compare nationally

What Newham decides

Year to December 2026

Newham issued 1,578 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 85% were approvals: 1,251 granted against 218 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 Newham?

The median planning application decided by Newham in the year to December 2026 took 55 days from submission to decision, 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,578 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Newham meet the eight week target?

66% of the 1,578 decisions Newham made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 90% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 92 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Newham faster or slower than average?

Newham is faster than average: its median of 55 days is 2 days below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Newham approve?

85% of the clear-cut outcomes Newham issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 1,251 granted against 218 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Newham planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 55 days from application to decision (1 day inside the eight week target), across 1,578 decisions with both dates published. 66% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 90% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 92 days. 85% 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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