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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Oxford

41 days. Ranked 6 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Oxford took 41 days from submission to decision — 15 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,344 decisions where the council published both dates.

41 days
Median decision 15 days inside the eight week target
6 of 343
UK rank up 14 places in a year
72%
Within eight weeks 95% within thirteen
78 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Oxford compares

Year to September 2026

Oxford decides faster than the country as a whole: 15 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 72%.

The average here is 49 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 78 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 963 72%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 315 23%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 66 5%

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.

Oxford: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
September 2026 41 6 of 343
June 2026 37 6 of 328
March 2026 34 3 of 243
December 2025 34 12 of 236
September 2025 34 20 of 324
June 2025 56 134 of 313
March 2025 56 133 of 315
December 2024 56 136 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 34 days, Oxford has moved up 14 places in the table.

By type of application

Year to September 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 74 decided 7 days
  2. Trees 481 decided 28 days
  3. Amendments 77 decided 33 days
  4. Prior approval 23 decided 37 days
  5. Conditions 184 decided 46 days
  6. Outline 112 decided 55 days
  7. Full applications 290 decided 64 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 44 decided 65 days
  9. Advertising 31 decided 70 days
  10. Lawful development 24 decided 76 days

How these types compare nationally

What Oxford decides

Year to September 2026

Oxford issued 1,344 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 92% were approvals: 1,100 granted against 96 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 Oxford?

The median planning application decided by Oxford in the year to September 2026 took 41 days from submission to decision, 15 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,344 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 6 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Oxford meet the eight week target?

72% of the 1,344 decisions Oxford made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 95% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 78 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Oxford faster or slower than average?

Oxford is faster than average: its median of 41 days is 15 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Oxford getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 34 days, Oxford has moved up 14 places in the table. Its median has risen by 7 days.

What proportion of applications does Oxford approve?

92% of the clear-cut outcomes Oxford issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,100 granted against 96 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Oxford planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 41 days from application to decision (15 days inside the eight week target), across 1,344 decisions with both dates published. 72% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 95% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 78 days. Ranked 6 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 92% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.