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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Runnymede

46 days. Ranked 18 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Runnymede took 46 days from submission to decision — 10 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,010 decisions where the council published both dates.

46 days
Median decision 10 days inside the eight week target
18 of 343
UK rank up 81 places in a year
73%
Within eight weeks 88% within thirteen
104 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Runnymede compares

Year to September 2026

Runnymede 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 73%.

The average here is 61 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 104 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 741 73%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 150 15%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 119 12%

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.

Runnymede: 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 18 of 343
June 2026 45 23 of 328
March 2026 44 31 of 243
December 2025 47 66 of 236
September 2025 52 99 of 324
June 2025 52 52 of 313
March 2025 52 53 of 315
December 2024 50 40 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 52 days, Runnymede has moved up 81 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. Outline 140 decided 35 days
  2. Conditions 227 decided 39 days
  3. Trees 123 decided 41 days
  4. Amendments 99 decided 42 days
  5. Heritage and listed buildings 21 decided 46 days
  6. Advertising 13 decided 54 days
  7. Other 94 decided 55 days

How these types compare nationally

What Runnymede decides

Year to September 2026

Runnymede issued 1,017 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 83% were approvals: 805 granted against 162 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 Runnymede?

The median planning application decided by Runnymede in the year to September 2026 took 46 days from submission to decision, 10 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,010 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 18 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Runnymede meet the eight week target?

73% of the 1,010 decisions Runnymede made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 88% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 104 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Runnymede faster or slower than average?

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

Is Runnymede getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 52 days, Runnymede has moved up 81 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 6 days.

What proportion of applications does Runnymede approve?

83% of the clear-cut outcomes Runnymede issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 805 granted against 162 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Runnymede planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 46 days from application to decision (10 days inside the eight week target), across 1,010 decisions with both dates published. 73% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 88% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 104 days. Ranked 18 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 83% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.