Decision times · East of England
How long planning decisions take in Stevenage
51 days. Ranked 3 of 43.
In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Stevenage took 51 days from submission to decision — 5 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 397 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Stevenage compares
Year to December 2026
Stevenage decides faster than the country as a whole: 6 days below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 74%.
The average here is 60 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 89 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 292 74%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 70 18%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 35 9%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| December 2026 | 51 | 3 of 43 |
| September 2026 | 50 | 4 of 53 |
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.
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Amendments 24 decided 16 days
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Conditions 52 decided 47 days
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Full applications 76 decided 58 days
What Stevenage decides
Year to December 2026
Stevenage issued 397 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 62% were approvals: 18 granted against 11 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 Stevenage?
The median planning application decided by Stevenage in the year to December 2026 took 51 days from submission to decision, 5 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 397 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 3 of 43 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Stevenage meet the eight week target?
74% of the 397 decisions Stevenage made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 91% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 89 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Stevenage faster or slower than average?
Stevenage is faster than average: its median of 51 days is 6 days below the national median of 57 days.
What proportion of applications does Stevenage approve?
62% of the clear-cut outcomes Stevenage issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 18 granted against 11 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
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Stevenage planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 51 days from application to decision (5 days inside the eight week target), across 397 decisions with both dates published. 74% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 91% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 89 days. Ranked 3 of 43 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 62% 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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<p>Data: <a href="https://planindex.co.uk/planning-decision-times/stevenage">Planning decision times, from PlanIndex</a></p>