Decision times · South East
How long planning decisions take in Surrey Heath
55 days. Ranked 8 of 45.
In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Surrey Heath took 55 days from submission to decision — 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,085 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Surrey Heath compares
Year to December 2026
Surrey Heath decides faster than the country as a whole: 2 days below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 64%.
The average here is 70 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 123 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 693 64%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 229 21%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 163 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.
| Twelve months to | Median days | UK rank |
|---|---|---|
| December 2026 | 55 | 8 of 45 |
| September 2026 | 55 | 17 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.
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Amendments 49 decided 29 days
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Trees 176 decided 37 days
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Outline 86 decided 55 days
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Conditions 30 decided 59 days
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Full applications 290 decided 59 days
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Advertising 23 decided 64 days
What Surrey Heath decides
Year to December 2026
Surrey Heath issued 1,085 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 90% were approvals: 753 granted against 82 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 Surrey Heath?
The median planning application decided by Surrey Heath in the year to December 2026 took 55 days from submission to decision, 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,085 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 8 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Surrey Heath meet the eight week target?
64% of the 1,085 decisions Surrey Heath made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 85% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 123 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Surrey Heath faster or slower than average?
Surrey Heath is faster than average: its median of 55 days is 2 days below the national median of 57 days.
What proportion of applications does Surrey Heath approve?
90% of the clear-cut outcomes Surrey Heath issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 753 granted against 82 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
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Surrey Heath planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 55 days from application to decision (1 day inside the eight week target), across 1,085 decisions with both dates published. 64% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 85% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 123 days. Ranked 8 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 90% 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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