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Decision times · Yorkshire and The Humber

How long planning decisions take in Sheffield

50 days. Ranked 37 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Sheffield took 50 days from submission to decision — 6 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 655 decisions where the council published both dates.

50 days
Median decision 6 days inside the eight week target
37 of 343
UK rank down 24 places in a year
64%
Within eight weeks 85% within thirteen
108 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Sheffield compares

Year to September 2026

Sheffield decides faster than the country as a whole: 6 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 64%.

The average here is 57 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 108 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 421 64%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 138 21%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 96 15%

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.

Sheffield: 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 50 37 of 343
June 2026 41 10 of 328
March 2026 36 8 of 243
December 2025 36 19 of 236
September 2025 29 13 of 324
June 2025 29 1 of 313
March 2025 49 26 of 315
December 2024 54 76 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 29 days, Sheffield has moved down 24 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. Amendments 24 decided 23 days
  2. Trees 216 decided 29 days
  3. Prior approval 10 decided 42 days
  4. Conditions 113 decided 46 days
  5. Lawful development 18 decided 56 days
  6. Advertising 18 decided 62 days
  7. Full applications 228 decided 77 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 20 decided 79 days

How these types compare nationally

What Sheffield decides

Year to September 2026

Sheffield issued 655 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 92% were approvals: 479 granted against 43 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 Sheffield?

The median planning application decided by Sheffield in the year to September 2026 took 50 days from submission to decision, 6 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 655 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 37 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Sheffield meet the eight week target?

64% of the 655 decisions Sheffield made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 85% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 108 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Sheffield faster or slower than average?

Sheffield is faster than average: its median of 50 days is 6 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Sheffield getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 29 days, Sheffield has moved down 24 places in the table. Its median has risen by 21 days.

What proportion of applications does Sheffield approve?

92% of the clear-cut outcomes Sheffield issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 479 granted against 43 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Sheffield planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 50 days from application to decision (6 days inside the eight week target), across 655 decisions with both dates published. 64% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 85% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 108 days. Ranked 37 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 92% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.