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Decision times · East of England

How long planning decisions take in Peterborough

53 days. Ranked 72 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Peterborough took 53 days from submission to decision — 3 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,280 decisions where the council published both dates.

53 days
Median decision 3 days inside the eight week target
72 of 343
UK rank up 5 places in a year
64%
Within eight weeks 89% within thirteen
94 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Peterborough compares

Year to September 2026

Peterborough decides faster than the country as a whole: 3 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 64%.

The average here is 60 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 94 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 819 64%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 325 25%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 136 11%

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.

Peterborough: 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 53 72 of 343
June 2026 53 83 of 328
March 2026 51 74 of 243
December 2025 49 83 of 236
September 2025 50 77 of 324
June 2025 53 59 of 313
March 2025 55 93 of 315
December 2024 56 134 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 50 days, Peterborough has moved up 5 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. Amendments 48 decided 20 days
  2. Prior approval 60 decided 37 days
  3. Trees 226 decided 38 days
  4. Lawful development 77 decided 50 days
  5. Advertising 39 decided 55 days
  6. Householder 262 decided 55 days
  7. Conditions 237 decided 56 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 65 decided 62 days
  9. Outline 10 decided 63 days
  10. Full applications 220 decided 66 days

How these types compare nationally

What Peterborough decides

Year to September 2026

Peterborough issued 1,280 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 86% were approvals: 707 granted against 111 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 Peterborough?

The median planning application decided by Peterborough in the year to September 2026 took 53 days from submission to decision, 3 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,280 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 72 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Peterborough meet the eight week target?

64% of the 1,280 decisions Peterborough made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 89% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 94 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Peterborough faster or slower than average?

Peterborough is faster than average: its median of 53 days is 3 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Peterborough getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 50 days, Peterborough has moved up 5 places in the table. Its median has risen by 3 days.

What proportion of applications does Peterborough approve?

86% of the clear-cut outcomes Peterborough issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 707 granted against 111 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Peterborough planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 53 days from application to decision (3 days inside the eight week target), across 1,280 decisions with both dates published. 64% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 89% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 94 days. Ranked 72 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 86% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.