How long planning decisions take in North Somerset

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.

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 56 days, North Somerset has moved up 22 places in the table.

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. Other 15 decided 42 days
2. Conditions 224 decided 52 days
3. Amendments 113 decided 53 days
4. Lawful development 111 decided 55 days
5. Advertising 24 decided 56 days
6. Householder 398 decided 56 days
7. Outline 61 decided 56 days
8. Trees 391 decided 56 days
9. Heritage and listed buildings 51 decided 58 days
10. Full applications 235 decided 71 days

How these types compare nationally

North Somerset issued 1,753 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 92% were approvals: 1,443 granted against 120 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.