Skip to content
PlanIndex Get alerts
Menu

Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in North Somerset

56 days. Ranked 12 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by North Somerset took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 1,755 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
12 of 45
UK rank First measured window
52%
Within eight weeks 82% within thirteen
126 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How North Somerset compares

Year to December 2026

North Somerset decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 52%.

The average here is 74 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 126 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 917 52%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 520 30%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 318 18%

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.

North Somerset: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2026 56 12 of 45
September 2026 56 19 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.

  1. Amendments 122 decided 50 days
  2. Advertising 20 decided 55 days
  3. Conditions 206 decided 55 days
  4. Householder 293 decided 56 days
  5. Lawful development 122 decided 56 days
  6. Trees 301 decided 62 days
  7. Outline 36 decided 64 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 54 decided 69 days
  9. Full applications 234 decided 84 days

How these types compare nationally

What North Somerset decides

Year to December 2026

North Somerset issued 1,755 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 95% were approvals: 1,448 granted against 83 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 North Somerset?

The median planning application decided by North Somerset in the year to December 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 1,755 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 12 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does North Somerset meet the eight week target?

52% of the 1,755 decisions North Somerset made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 82% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 126 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is North Somerset faster or slower than average?

North Somerset is faster than average: its median of 56 days is 1 day below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does North Somerset approve?

95% of the clear-cut outcomes North Somerset issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 1,448 granted against 83 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

North Somerset planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 1,755 decisions with both dates published. 52% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 82% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 126 days. Ranked 12 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 95% 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).

Embed these figures

Paste either snippet into your page. Click a snippet to select all of it. The credit line is part of the embed.

<script src="https://planindex.co.uk/embed/decision-times.js" data-council="north-somerset" defer></script>

If your CMS strips scripts, use the frame directly:

<iframe src="https://planindex.co.uk/embed/decision-times/north-somerset" title="Planning decision times in North Somerset" width="100%" height="215" loading="lazy" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>Data: <a href="https://planindex.co.uk/planning-decision-times/north-somerset">Planning decision times, from PlanIndex</a></p>