Decision times · West Midlands
How long planning decisions take in Shropshire
43 days. Ranked 11 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Shropshire took 43 days from submission to decision — 13 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 194 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Shropshire compares
Year to September 2026
Shropshire decides faster than the country as a whole: 13 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 86%.
The average here is 40 days. For planning around, 59 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 167 86%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 27 14%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 0 0%
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.
| Twelve months to | Median days | UK rank |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 43 | 11 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 21 | 2 of 328 |
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.
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Prior approval 11 decided 16 days
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Amendments 16 decided 21 days
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Conditions 43 decided 27 days
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Trees 35 decided 43 days
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Lawful development 20 decided 46 days
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Full applications 46 decided 50 days
What Shropshire decides
Year to September 2026
Shropshire issued 194 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 90% were approvals: 150 granted against 17 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 Shropshire?
The median planning application decided by Shropshire in the year to September 2026 took 43 days from submission to decision, 13 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 194 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 11 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Shropshire meet the eight week target?
86% of the 194 decisions Shropshire made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 100% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 59 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Shropshire faster or slower than average?
Shropshire is faster than average: its median of 43 days is 13 days below the national median of 56 days.
What proportion of applications does Shropshire approve?
90% of the clear-cut outcomes Shropshire issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 150 granted against 17 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Shropshire planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 43 days from application to decision (13 days inside the eight week target), across 194 decisions with both dates published. 86% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 100% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 59 days. Ranked 11 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 90% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.