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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Redbridge

38 days. Ranked 3 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Redbridge took 38 days from submission to decision — 18 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 3,057 decisions where the council published both dates.

38 days
Median decision 18 days inside the eight week target
3 of 343
UK rank up 28 places in a year
73%
Within eight weeks 91% within thirteen
87 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Redbridge compares

Year to September 2026

Redbridge decides faster than the country as a whole: 18 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 73%.

The average here is 48 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 87 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 2,224 73%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 555 18%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 278 9%

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.

Redbridge: 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 38 3 of 343
June 2026 36 4 of 328
March 2026 35 6 of 243
December 2025 31 6 of 236
September 2025 39 31 of 324
June 2025 44 13 of 313
March 2025 44 13 of 315
December 2024 44 14 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 39 days, Redbridge has moved up 28 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. Lawful development 736 decided 20 days
  2. Prior approval 470 decided 29 days
  3. Trees 318 decided 29 days
  4. Conditions 226 decided 44 days
  5. Amendments 94 decided 46 days
  6. Householder 741 decided 54 days
  7. Advertising 34 decided 56 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 10 decided 63 days
  9. Full applications 426 decided 71 days

How these types compare nationally

What Redbridge decides

Year to September 2026

Redbridge issued 3,057 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 81% were approvals: 1,837 granted against 435 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 Redbridge?

The median planning application decided by Redbridge in the year to September 2026 took 38 days from submission to decision, 18 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 3,057 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 3 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Redbridge meet the eight week target?

73% of the 3,057 decisions Redbridge made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 91% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 87 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Redbridge faster or slower than average?

Redbridge is faster than average: its median of 38 days is 18 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Redbridge getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 39 days, Redbridge has moved up 28 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 1 day.

What proportion of applications does Redbridge approve?

81% of the clear-cut outcomes Redbridge issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,837 granted against 435 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Redbridge planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 38 days from application to decision (18 days inside the eight week target), across 3,057 decisions with both dates published. 73% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 91% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 87 days. Ranked 3 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 81% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.