Decision times · South West
How long planning decisions take in Swindon
50 days.
In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Swindon took 50 days from submission to decision — 6 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,136 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.
How Swindon compares
Year to December 2026
Swindon decides faster than the country as a whole: 7 days below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 73%.
The average here is 60 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 93 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
-
Within eight weeks the statutory target 832 73%
-
Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 187 16%
-
Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 117 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.
| Twelve months to | Median days | UK rank |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 56 | 19 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.
-
Amendments 48 decided 27 days
-
Trees 140 decided 34 days
-
Lawful development 89 decided 41 days
-
Advertising 51 decided 49 days
-
Conditions 184 decided 49 days
-
Householder 335 decided 50 days
-
Heritage and listed buildings 41 decided 53 days
-
Full applications 216 decided 57 days
What Swindon decides
Year to December 2026
Swindon issued 1,137 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 94% were approvals: 1,004 granted against 62 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 December 2026 took 50 days from submission to decision, 6 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 1,136 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.
Does Swindon meet the eight week target?
73% of the 1,136 decisions Swindon made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 90% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 93 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 50 days is 7 days below the national median of 57 days.
What proportion of applications does Swindon approve?
94% of the clear-cut outcomes Swindon issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 1,004 granted against 62 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 December 2026: median 50 days from application to decision (6 days inside the eight week target), across 1,136 decisions with both dates published. 73% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 90% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 93 days. 94% 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).
Embed these figures
Paste either snippet into your page. Click a snippet to select all of it. The credit line is part of the embed.
<script src="https://planindex.co.uk/embed/decision-times.js" data-council="swindon" defer></script>If your CMS strips scripts, use the frame directly:
<iframe src="https://planindex.co.uk/embed/decision-times/swindon" title="Planning decision times in Swindon" width="100%" height="215" loading="lazy" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>Data: <a href="https://planindex.co.uk/planning-decision-times/swindon">Planning decision times, from PlanIndex</a></p>