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Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in Swindon

49 days. Ranked 25 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Swindon took 49 days from submission to decision — 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,422 decisions where the council published both dates.

49 days
Median decision 7 days inside the eight week target
25 of 343
UK rank up 140 places in a year
75%
Within eight weeks 90% within thirteen
90 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Swindon compares

Year to September 2026

Swindon decides faster than the country as a whole: 7 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 75%.

The average here is 61 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 90 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,065 75%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 219 15%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 138 10%

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.

Swindon: 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 49 25 of 343
June 2026 50 52 of 328
March 2026 50 63 of 243
December 2025 51 111 of 236
September 2025 56 165 of 324
June 2025 53 63 of 313
March 2025 51 40 of 315
December 2024 50 37 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 56 days, Swindon has moved up 140 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. Amendments 67 decided 28 days
  2. Trees 188 decided 35 days
  3. Lawful development 108 decided 42 days
  4. Advertising 84 decided 48 days
  5. Conditions 219 decided 49 days
  6. Householder 398 decided 50 days
  7. Heritage and listed buildings 48 decided 54 days
  8. Full applications 263 decided 56 days
  9. Prior approval 15 decided 56 days
  10. Reserved matters 13 decided 156 days

How these types compare nationally

What Swindon decides

Year to September 2026

Swindon issued 1,423 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 93% were approvals: 1,034 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 Swindon?

The median planning application decided by Swindon in the year to September 2026 took 49 days from submission to decision, 7 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,422 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 25 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Swindon meet the eight week target?

75% of the 1,422 decisions Swindon made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 90% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 90 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Swindon faster or slower than average?

Swindon is faster than average: its median of 49 days is 7 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Swindon getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 56 days, Swindon has moved up 140 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 7 days.

What proportion of applications does Swindon approve?

93% of the clear-cut outcomes Swindon issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,034 granted against 82 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Swindon planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 49 days from application to decision (7 days inside the eight week target), across 1,422 decisions with both dates published. 75% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 90% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 90 days. Ranked 25 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 93% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.