Decision times · South East
How long planning decisions take in Surrey Heath
55 days. Ranked 101 of 343.
In the year to September 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 1,032 decisions where the council published both dates.
How Surrey Heath compares
Year to September 2026
Surrey Heath decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 65%.
The average here is 64 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 112 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 675 65%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 220 21%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 137 13%
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 | 55 | 101 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 54 | 101 of 328 |
| March 2026 | 52 | 89 of 243 |
| December 2025 | 44 | 53 of 236 |
| September 2025 | 51 | 87 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 53 | 66 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 53 | 67 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 53 | 69 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 51 days, Surrey Heath has moved down 14 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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Trees 248 decided 28 days
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Amendments 49 decided 35 days
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Other 11 decided 37 days
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Outline 108 decided 55 days
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Full applications 388 decided 56 days
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Conditions 33 decided 57 days
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Advertising 23 decided 63 days
What Surrey Heath decides
Year to September 2026
Surrey Heath issued 1,032 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 89% were approvals: 765 granted against 98 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 September 2026 took 55 days from submission to decision, 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,032 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 101 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does Surrey Heath meet the eight week target?
65% of the 1,032 decisions Surrey Heath made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 87% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 112 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 1 day below the national median of 56 days.
Is Surrey Heath getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 51 days, Surrey Heath has moved down 14 places in the table. Its median has risen by 4 days.
What proportion of applications does Surrey Heath approve?
89% of the clear-cut outcomes Surrey Heath issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 765 granted against 98 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Surrey Heath planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 55 days from application to decision (1 day inside the eight week target), across 1,032 decisions with both dates published. 65% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 87% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 112 days. Ranked 101 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 89% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.