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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Thanet

63 days. Ranked 242 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Thanet took 63 days from submission to decision — 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 839 decisions where the council published both dates.

63 days
Median decision 7 days beyond the eight week target
242 of 343
UK rank up 20 places in a year
35%
Within eight weeks 77% within thirteen
127 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Thanet compares

Year to September 2026

Thanet takes longer than the country as a whole: 7 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 35%.

The average here is 78 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 127 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 293 35%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 355 42%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 191 23%

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.

Thanet: 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 63 242 of 343
June 2026 63 252 of 328
March 2026 60 194 of 243
December 2025 57 182 of 236
September 2025 66 262 of 324
June 2025 67 243 of 313
March 2025 67 249 of 315
December 2024 67 255 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 66 days, Thanet has moved up 20 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. Trees 146 decided 55 days
  2. Conditions 141 decided 56 days
  3. Lawful development 46 decided 56 days
  4. Householder 234 decided 62 days
  5. Advertising 16 decided 80 days
  6. Heritage and listed buildings 55 decided 81 days
  7. Full applications 181 decided 84 days

How these types compare nationally

What Thanet decides

Year to September 2026

Thanet issued 839 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 94% were approvals: 763 granted against 51 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 Thanet?

The median planning application decided by Thanet in the year to September 2026 took 63 days from submission to decision, 7 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 839 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 242 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Thanet meet the eight week target?

35% of the 839 decisions Thanet made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 77% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 127 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Thanet faster or slower than average?

Thanet is slower than average: its median of 63 days is 7 days above the national median of 56 days.

Is Thanet getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 66 days, Thanet has moved up 20 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 3 days.

What proportion of applications does Thanet approve?

94% of the clear-cut outcomes Thanet issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 763 granted against 51 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Thanet planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 63 days from application to decision (7 days beyond the eight week target), across 839 decisions with both dates published. 35% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 77% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 127 days. Ranked 242 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 94% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.