Skip to content
PlanIndex Get alerts
Menu

Decision times · London

How long planning decisions take in Southwark

52 days. Ranked 55 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Southwark took 52 days from submission to decision — 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,726 decisions where the council published both dates.

52 days
Median decision 4 days inside the eight week target
55 of 343
UK rank down 13 places in a year
62%
Within eight weeks 87% within thirteen
102 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Southwark compares

Year to September 2026

Southwark decides faster than the country as a whole: 4 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 62%.

The average here is 59 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 102 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,074 62%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 431 25%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 221 13%

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.

Southwark: 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 52 55 of 343
June 2026 50 51 of 328
March 2026 47 40 of 243
December 2025 31 8 of 236
September 2025 43 42 of 324
June 2025 411 313 of 313
March 2025 172 312 of 315
December 2024 142 314 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 43 days, Southwark has moved down 13 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. Trees 264 decided 34 days
  2. Prior approval 11 decided 39 days
  3. Conditions 603 decided 47 days
  4. Lawful development 119 decided 50 days
  5. Advertising 46 decided 56 days
  6. Householder 281 decided 56 days
  7. Amendments 30 decided 62 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 91 decided 66 days
  9. Full applications 268 decided 68 days

How these types compare nationally

What Southwark decides

Year to September 2026

Southwark issued 1,726 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 95% were approvals: 1,426 granted against 75 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 Southwark?

The median planning application decided by Southwark in the year to September 2026 took 52 days from submission to decision, 4 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,726 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 55 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Southwark meet the eight week target?

62% of the 1,726 decisions Southwark made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 87% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 102 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Southwark faster or slower than average?

Southwark is faster than average: its median of 52 days is 4 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Southwark getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 43 days, Southwark has moved down 13 places in the table. Its median has risen by 9 days.

What proportion of applications does Southwark approve?

95% of the clear-cut outcomes Southwark issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,426 granted against 75 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Southwark planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 52 days from application to decision (4 days inside the eight week target), across 1,726 decisions with both dates published. 62% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 87% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 102 days. Ranked 55 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 95% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.