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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Rushmoor

42 days. Ranked 9 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Rushmoor took 42 days from submission to decision — 14 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 317 decisions where the council published both dates.

42 days
Median decision 14 days inside the eight week target
9 of 343
UK rank up 25 places in a year
72%
Within eight weeks 91% within thirteen
89 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Rushmoor compares

Year to September 2026

Rushmoor decides faster than the country as a whole: 14 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 72%.

The average here is 53 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 89 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 227 72%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 61 19%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 29 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.

Rushmoor: 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 42 9 of 343
June 2026 41 11 of 328
March 2026 39 10 of 243
December 2025 39 28 of 236
September 2025 40 34 of 324
June 2025 46 19 of 313
March 2025 46 18 of 315
December 2024 46 19 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 40 days, Rushmoor has moved up 25 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. Prior approval 19 decided 29 days
  2. Outline 24 decided 33 days
  3. Trees 75 decided 34 days
  4. Amendments 13 decided 45 days
  5. Full applications 147 decided 55 days
  6. Conditions 26 decided 59 days

How these types compare nationally

What Rushmoor decides

Year to September 2026

Rushmoor issued 317 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 94% were approvals: 257 granted against 15 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 Rushmoor?

The median planning application decided by Rushmoor in the year to September 2026 took 42 days from submission to decision, 14 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 317 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 9 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Rushmoor meet the eight week target?

72% of the 317 decisions Rushmoor 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 89 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Rushmoor faster or slower than average?

Rushmoor is faster than average: its median of 42 days is 14 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Rushmoor getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 40 days, Rushmoor has moved up 25 places in the table. Its median has risen by 2 days.

What proportion of applications does Rushmoor approve?

94% of the clear-cut outcomes Rushmoor issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 257 granted against 15 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Rushmoor planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 42 days from application to decision (14 days inside the eight week target), across 317 decisions with both dates published. 72% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 91% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 89 days. Ranked 9 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 94% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.