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Decision times · Scotland

How long planning decisions take in Renfrewshire

56 days. Ranked 21 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Renfrewshire took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 585 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
21 of 45
UK rank First measured window
50%
Within eight weeks 74% within thirteen
170 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Renfrewshire compares

Year to December 2026

Renfrewshire decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 50%.

The average here is 91 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 170 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 293 50%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 138 24%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 154 26%

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.

Renfrewshire: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2026 56 21 of 45
September 2026 56 30 of 56
June 2026 55 18 of 39

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.

  1. Lawful development 18 decided 48 days
  2. Advertising 17 decided 54 days
  3. Heritage and listed buildings 36 decided 56 days
  4. Trees 39 decided 56 days
  5. Full applications 211 decided 62 days
  6. Conditions 81 decided 63 days

How these types compare nationally

What Renfrewshire decides

Year to December 2026

Renfrewshire issued 585 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 96% were approvals: 424 granted against 16 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 Renfrewshire?

The median planning application decided by Renfrewshire in the year to December 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 585 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 21 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Renfrewshire meet the eight week target?

50% of the 585 decisions Renfrewshire made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 74% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 170 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Renfrewshire faster or slower than average?

Renfrewshire is faster than average: its median of 56 days is 1 day below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Renfrewshire approve?

96% of the clear-cut outcomes Renfrewshire issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 424 granted against 16 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Renfrewshire planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 585 decisions with both dates published. 50% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 74% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 170 days. Ranked 21 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 96% 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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