Decision times · North East
How long planning decisions take in Sunderland
73 days. Ranked 281 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Sunderland took 73 days from submission to decision — 17 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 130 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Sunderland compares
Year to September 2026
Sunderland takes longer than the country as a whole: 17 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 32%.
The average here is 153 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 349 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 42 32%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 33 25%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 55 42%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 73 | 281 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 73 | 290 of 328 |
| March 2026 | 283 | 241 of 243 |
| December 2025 | 176 | 226 of 236 |
| September 2025 | 55 | 133 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 55 | 84 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 55 | 86 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 55 | 85 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 55 days, Sunderland has moved down 148 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.
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Conditions 29 decided 53 days
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Full applications 68 decided 105 days
What Sunderland decides
Year to September 2026
Sunderland issued 130 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 85% were approvals: 95 granted against 17 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 Sunderland?
The median planning application decided by Sunderland in the year to September 2026 took 73 days from submission to decision, 17 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 130 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 281 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Sunderland meet the eight week target?
32% of the 130 decisions Sunderland made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 58% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 349 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Sunderland faster or slower than average?
Sunderland is slower than average: its median of 73 days is 17 days above the national median of 56 days.
Is Sunderland getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 55 days, Sunderland has moved down 148 places in the table. Its median has risen by 18 days.
What proportion of applications does Sunderland approve?
85% of the clear-cut outcomes Sunderland issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 95 granted against 17 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Sunderland planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 73 days from application to decision (17 days beyond the eight week target), across 130 decisions with both dates published. 32% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 58% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 349 days. Ranked 281 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 85% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.