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Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Richmond upon Thames

46 days. Ranked 16 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Richmond upon Thames took 46 days from submission to decision — 10 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 3,550 decisions where the council published both dates.

46 days
Median decision 10 days inside the eight week target
16 of 343
UK rank up 64 places in a year
71%
Within eight weeks 89% within thirteen
93 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Richmond upon Thames compares

Year to September 2026

Richmond upon Thames decides faster than the country as a whole: 10 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 71%.

The average here is 54 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 93 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 2,521 71%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 654 18%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 375 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.

Richmond upon Thames: 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 46 16 of 343
June 2026 43 18 of 328
March 2026 41 14 of 243
December 2025 37 21 of 236
September 2025 50 80 of 324
June 2025 54 73 of 313
March 2025 54 75 of 315
December 2024 54 75 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 50 days, Richmond upon Thames has moved up 64 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 917 decided 33 days
  2. Amendments 187 decided 34 days
  3. Prior approval 479 decided 38 days
  4. Outline 73 decided 47 days
  5. Conditions 438 decided 48 days
  6. Lawful development 28 decided 51 days
  7. Advertising 79 decided 54 days
  8. Reserved matters 25 decided 54 days
  9. Householder 941 decided 55 days
  10. Full applications 283 decided 69 days
  11. Heritage and listed buildings 91 decided 76 days

How these types compare nationally

What Richmond upon Thames decides

Year to September 2026

Richmond upon Thames issued 3,550 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 89% were approvals: 3,039 granted against 385 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 Richmond upon Thames?

The median planning application decided by Richmond upon Thames in the year to September 2026 took 46 days from submission to decision, 10 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 3,550 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 16 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Richmond upon Thames meet the eight week target?

71% of the 3,550 decisions Richmond upon Thames 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 93 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Richmond upon Thames faster or slower than average?

Richmond upon Thames is faster than average: its median of 46 days is 10 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Richmond upon Thames getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 50 days, Richmond upon Thames has moved up 64 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 4 days.

What proportion of applications does Richmond upon Thames approve?

89% of the clear-cut outcomes Richmond upon Thames issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 3,039 granted against 385 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Richmond upon Thames planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 46 days from application to decision (10 days inside the eight week target), across 3,550 decisions with both dates published. 71% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 89% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 93 days. Ranked 16 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 89% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.