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Decision times · Wales

How long planning decisions take in Swansea

58 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Swansea took 58 days from submission to decision — 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,312 decisions where the council published both dates.

This council carries a figure but no rank

Not ranked yet: our records do not yet pass the historical coverage, monthly continuity, missing-date and refresh checks for this window. The figure above is still what the published dates say; it is left out of the league table so it cannot distort the ranking. See the methodology.

58 days
Median decision 2 days beyond the eight week target
48%
Within eight weeks 76% within thirteen
150 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Swansea compares

Year to December 2026

Swansea takes longer than the country as a whole: 1 day above the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 48%.

The average here is 82 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 150 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 628 48%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 372 28%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 312 24%

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
December 2024 58 33 of 57

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.

  1. Other 121 decided 44 days
  2. Trees 94 decided 49 days
  3. Lawful development 153 decided 50 days
  4. Amendments 122 decided 54 days
  5. Conditions 170 decided 56 days
  6. Advertising 34 decided 63 days
  7. Full applications 569 decided 66 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 34 decided 99 days

How these types compare nationally

What Swansea decides

Year to December 2026

Swansea issued 1,312 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 86% were approvals: 993 granted against 162 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 December 2026 took 58 days from submission to decision, 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,312 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Swansea meet the eight week target?

48% of the 1,312 decisions Swansea made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 76% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 150 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 slower than average: its median of 58 days is 1 day above the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Swansea approve?

86% of the clear-cut outcomes Swansea issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 993 granted against 162 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Swansea planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 58 days from application to decision (2 days beyond the eight week target), across 1,312 decisions with both dates published. 48% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 76% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 150 days. 86% 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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