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Decision times · Wales

How long planning decisions take in Pembrokeshire

54 days. Ranked 86 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Pembrokeshire took 54 days from submission to decision — 2 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 751 decisions where the council published both dates.

54 days
Median decision 2 days inside the eight week target
86 of 343
UK rank up 170 places in a year
74%
Within eight weeks 85% within thirteen
118 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Pembrokeshire compares

Year to September 2026

Pembrokeshire decides faster than the country as a whole: 2 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 74%.

The average here is 66 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 118 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 557 74%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 84 11%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 110 15%

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.

Pembrokeshire: 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 54 86 of 343
June 2026 54 107 of 328
March 2026 54 125 of 243
December 2025 53 138 of 236
September 2025 65 256 of 324
June 2025 70 261 of 313
March 2025 70 263 of 315
December 2024 70 270 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 65 days, Pembrokeshire has moved up 170 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. Trees 23 decided 48 days
  2. Conditions 106 decided 50 days
  3. Advertising 12 decided 51 days
  4. Amendments 123 decided 53 days
  5. Full applications 385 decided 55 days
  6. Heritage and listed buildings 20 decided 63 days

How these types compare nationally

What Pembrokeshire decides

Year to September 2026

Pembrokeshire issued 751 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 84% were approvals: 555 granted against 109 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 Pembrokeshire?

The median planning application decided by Pembrokeshire in the year to September 2026 took 54 days from submission to decision, 2 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 751 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 86 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Pembrokeshire meet the eight week target?

74% of the 751 decisions Pembrokeshire made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 85% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 118 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Pembrokeshire faster or slower than average?

Pembrokeshire is faster than average: its median of 54 days is 2 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Pembrokeshire getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 65 days, Pembrokeshire has moved up 170 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 11 days.

What proportion of applications does Pembrokeshire approve?

84% of the clear-cut outcomes Pembrokeshire issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 555 granted against 109 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Pembrokeshire planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 54 days from application to decision (2 days inside the eight week target), across 751 decisions with both dates published. 74% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 85% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 118 days. Ranked 86 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 84% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.