Decision times · North West
How long planning decisions take in Oldham
68 days.
In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Oldham took 68 days from submission to decision — 12 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 450 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.
How Oldham compares
Year to December 2026
Oldham takes longer than the country as a whole: 11 days above the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 37%.
The average here is 156 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 242 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 165 37%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 146 32%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 139 31%
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 2025 | 83 | 18 of 24 |
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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Householder 58 decided 70 days
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Full applications 27 decided 182 days
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Conditions 20 decided 1342 days
What Oldham decides
Year to December 2026
Oldham issued 450 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 97% were approvals: 343 granted against 10 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 Oldham?
The median planning application decided by Oldham in the year to December 2026 took 68 days from submission to decision, 12 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 450 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.
Does Oldham meet the eight week target?
37% of the 450 decisions Oldham made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 69% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 242 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Oldham faster or slower than average?
Oldham is slower than average: its median of 68 days is 11 days above the national median of 57 days.
What proportion of applications does Oldham approve?
97% of the clear-cut outcomes Oldham issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 343 granted against 10 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Oldham planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 68 days from application to decision (12 days beyond the eight week target), across 450 decisions with both dates published. 37% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 69% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 242 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/oldham">Planning decision times, from PlanIndex</a></p>