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Decision times · West Midlands

How long planning decisions take in Solihull

100 days. Ranked 327 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Solihull took 100 days from submission to decision — 44 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 728 decisions where the council published both dates.

100 days
Median decision 44 days beyond the eight week target
327 of 343
UK rank down 26 places in a year
29%
Within eight weeks 47% within thirteen
283 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Solihull compares

Year to September 2026

Solihull takes longer than the country as a whole: 44 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 29%.

The average here is 142 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 283 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 210 29%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 131 18%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 387 53%

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.

Solihull: 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 100 327 of 343
June 2026 99 319 of 328
March 2026 196 238 of 243
December 2025 193 229 of 236
September 2025 87 301 of 324
June 2025 67 241 of 313
March 2025 60 191 of 315
December 2024 58 175 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 87 days, Solihull has moved down 26 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 36 decided 40 days
  2. Lawful development 43 decided 56 days
  3. Advertising 16 decided 59 days
  4. Amendments 48 decided 67 days
  5. Householder 228 decided 71 days
  6. Trees 83 decided 115 days
  7. Conditions 84 decided 142 days
  8. Full applications 140 decided 189 days
  9. Outline 23 decided 204 days

How these types compare nationally

What Solihull decides

Year to September 2026

Solihull issued 728 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 88% were approvals: 618 granted against 81 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 Solihull?

The median planning application decided by Solihull in the year to September 2026 took 100 days from submission to decision, 44 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 728 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 327 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Solihull meet the eight week target?

29% of the 728 decisions Solihull made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 47% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 283 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Solihull faster or slower than average?

Solihull is slower than average: its median of 100 days is 44 days above the national median of 56 days.

Is Solihull getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 87 days, Solihull has moved down 26 places in the table. Its median has risen by 13 days.

What proportion of applications does Solihull approve?

88% of the clear-cut outcomes Solihull issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 618 granted against 81 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Solihull planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 100 days from application to decision (44 days beyond the eight week target), across 728 decisions with both dates published. 29% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 47% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 283 days. Ranked 327 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 88% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.