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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Spelthorne

56 days. Ranked 17 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Spelthorne took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 824 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
17 of 45
UK rank First measured window
53%
Within eight weeks 83% within thirteen
120 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Spelthorne compares

Year to December 2026

Spelthorne decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 53%.

The average here is 78 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 120 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 433 53%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 252 31%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 139 17%

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
December 2026 56 17 of 45
September 2026 56 27 of 56

By type of application

Year to December 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 39 decided 42 days
  2. Trees 87 decided 48 days
  3. Advertising 22 decided 56 days
  4. Lawful development 79 decided 56 days
  5. Householder 263 decided 58 days
  6. Conditions 55 decided 63 days
  7. Heritage and listed buildings 12 decided 63 days
  8. Amendments 30 decided 64 days
  9. Full applications 113 decided 79 days

How these types compare nationally

What Spelthorne decides

Year to December 2026

Spelthorne issued 824 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 88% were approvals: 549 granted against 74 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 December 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 824 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 17 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Spelthorne meet the eight week target?

53% of the 824 decisions Spelthorne made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 83% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 120 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 is faster than average: its median of 56 days is 1 day below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Spelthorne approve?

88% of the clear-cut outcomes Spelthorne issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 549 granted against 74 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Spelthorne planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 824 decisions with both dates published. 53% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 83% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 120 days. Ranked 17 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 88% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.

Or take the data itself: this council's history (CSV) or the full league table (CSV).

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