Decision times · East of England
How long planning decisions take in The Broads Authority
44 days. Ranked 14 of 343.
In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by The Broads Authority took 44 days from submission to decision — 12 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 223 decisions where the council published both dates.
How The Broads Authority compares
Year to September 2026
The Broads Authority decides faster than the country as a whole: 12 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 61%.
The average here is 76 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 148 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 137 61%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 40 18%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 46 21%
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 |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | 44 | 14 of 343 |
| June 2026 | 42 | 15 of 328 |
| March 2026 | 41 | 17 of 243 |
| December 2025 | 36 | 20 of 236 |
| September 2025 | 38 | 28 of 324 |
| June 2025 | 55 | 106 of 313 |
| March 2025 | 56 | 141 of 315 |
| December 2024 | 55 | 100 of 319 |
Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 38 days, The Broads Authority has moved up 14 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.
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Trees 75 decided 32 days
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Conditions 36 decided 44 days
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Heritage and listed buildings 16 decided 59 days
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Householder 37 decided 66 days
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Full applications 40 decided 105 days
What The Broads Authority decides
Year to September 2026
The Broads Authority issued 223 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 99% were approvals: 194 granted against 2 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 The Broads Authority?
The median planning application decided by The Broads Authority in the year to September 2026 took 44 days from submission to decision, 12 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 223 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 14 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.
Does The Broads Authority meet the eight week target?
61% of the 223 decisions The Broads Authority made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 79% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 148 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is The Broads Authority faster or slower than average?
The Broads Authority is faster than average: its median of 44 days is 12 days below the national median of 56 days.
Is The Broads Authority getting faster or slower?
Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 38 days, The Broads Authority has moved up 14 places in the table. Its median has risen by 6 days.
What proportion of applications does The Broads Authority approve?
99% of the clear-cut outcomes The Broads Authority issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 194 granted against 2 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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The Broads Authority planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 44 days from application to decision (12 days inside the eight week target), across 223 decisions with both dates published. 61% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 79% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 148 days. Ranked 14 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 99% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.