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Decision times · Wales

How long planning decisions take in Swansea

55 days. Ranked 99 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Swansea took 55 days from submission to decision — 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,492 decisions where the council published both dates.

55 days
Median decision 1 day inside the eight week target
99 of 343
UK rank up 63 places in a year
54%
Within eight weeks 81% within thirteen
132 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Swansea compares

Year to September 2026

Swansea 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 54%.

The average here is 74 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 132 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 810 54%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 398 27%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 284 19%

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.

Swansea: 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 55 99 of 343
June 2026 54 100 of 328
March 2026 50 65 of 243
December 2025 46 62 of 236
September 2025 56 162 of 324
June 2025 58 169 of 313
March 2025 57 156 of 315
December 2024 57 160 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 56 days, Swansea has moved up 63 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.

  1. Other 149 decided 41 days
  2. Lawful development 171 decided 48 days
  3. Trees 123 decided 48 days
  4. Amendments 127 decided 51 days
  5. Conditions 187 decided 55 days
  6. Advertising 35 decided 57 days
  7. Full applications 646 decided 60 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 36 decided 95 days

How these types compare nationally

What Swansea decides

Year to September 2026

Swansea issued 1,492 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 88% were approvals: 1,006 granted against 143 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 Swansea?

The median planning application decided by Swansea in the year to September 2026 took 55 days from submission to decision, 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,492 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 99 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Swansea meet the eight week target?

54% of the 1,492 decisions Swansea made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 81% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 132 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Swansea faster or slower than average?

Swansea is faster than average: its median of 55 days is 1 day below the national median of 56 days.

Is Swansea getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 56 days, Swansea has moved up 63 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 1 day.

What proportion of applications does Swansea approve?

88% of the clear-cut outcomes Swansea issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,006 granted against 143 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Swansea planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 55 days from application to decision (1 day inside the eight week target), across 1,492 decisions with both dates published. 54% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 81% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 132 days. Ranked 99 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 88% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.