Skip to content
PlanIndex Get alerts
Menu

Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Spelthorne

56 days. Ranked 155 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Spelthorne took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 807 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
155 of 343
UK rank down 12 places in a year
54%
Within eight weeks 85% within thirteen
110 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Spelthorne compares

Year to September 2026

Spelthorne sits exactly on the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 54%.

The average here is 73 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 110 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 436 54%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 251 31%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 120 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.

Spelthorne: 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 56 155 of 343
June 2026 56 170 of 328
March 2026 56 170 of 243
December 2025 54 154 of 236
September 2025 55 143 of 324
June 2025 55 105 of 313
March 2025 55 107 of 315
December 2024 55 106 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 55 days, Spelthorne has moved down 12 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 53 decided 41 days
  2. Trees 95 decided 45 days
  3. Lawful development 110 decided 54 days
  4. Householder 263 decided 56 days
  5. Advertising 18 decided 57 days
  6. Heritage and listed buildings 11 decided 59 days
  7. Amendments 47 decided 63 days
  8. Conditions 70 decided 63 days
  9. Full applications 102 decided 78 days

How these types compare nationally

What Spelthorne decides

Year to September 2026

Spelthorne issued 807 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 86% were approvals: 609 granted against 102 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 Spelthorne?

The median planning application decided by Spelthorne in the year to September 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 807 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 155 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Spelthorne meet the eight week target?

54% of the 807 decisions Spelthorne 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 110 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Spelthorne faster or slower than average?

Spelthorne sits exactly on the national median of 56 days.

Is Spelthorne getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 55 days, Spelthorne has moved down 12 places in the table. Its median has risen by 1 day.

What proportion of applications does Spelthorne approve?

86% of the clear-cut outcomes Spelthorne issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 609 granted against 102 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Spelthorne planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 807 decisions with both dates published. 54% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 85% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 110 days. Ranked 155 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 86% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.