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Decision times · North West

How long planning decisions take in Stockport

49 days. Ranked 27 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Stockport took 49 days from submission to decision — 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 769 decisions where the council published both dates.

49 days
Median decision 7 days inside the eight week target
27 of 343
UK rank First measured window
70%
Within eight weeks 86% within thirteen
117 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Stockport compares

Year to September 2026

Stockport decides faster than the country as a whole: 7 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 70%.

The average here is 69 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 117 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 535 70%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 129 17%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 105 14%

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.

Stockport: 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 49 27 of 343
June 2026 52 78 of 328
March 2026 52 93 of 243
June 2025 39 5 of 313
March 2025 39 4 of 315
December 2024 39 5 of 319

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. Telecoms 91 decided 11 days
  2. Lawful development 45 decided 28 days
  3. Prior approval 16 decided 36 days
  4. Amendments 40 decided 49 days
  5. Trees 145 decided 51 days
  6. Householder 247 decided 54 days
  7. Conditions 77 decided 55 days
  8. Full applications 64 decided 69 days
  9. Outline 14 decided 81 days

How these types compare nationally

What Stockport decides

Year to September 2026

Stockport issued 769 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 95% were approvals: 636 granted against 36 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 Stockport?

The median planning application decided by Stockport in the year to September 2026 took 49 days from submission to decision, 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 769 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 27 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Stockport meet the eight week target?

70% of the 769 decisions Stockport made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 86% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 117 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Stockport faster or slower than average?

Stockport is faster than average: its median of 49 days is 7 days below the national median of 56 days.

What proportion of applications does Stockport approve?

95% of the clear-cut outcomes Stockport issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 636 granted against 36 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Stockport planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 49 days from application to decision (7 days inside the eight week target), across 769 decisions with both dates published. 70% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 86% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 117 days. Ranked 27 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 95% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.