Decision times · South East
How long planning decisions take in Waverley
58 days.
In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Waverley took 58 days from submission to decision — 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,605 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 Waverley compares
Year to December 2026
Waverley 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 47%.
The average here is 73 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 113 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.
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Within eight weeks the statutory target 749 47%
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Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 604 38%
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Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 252 16%
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.
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Other 17 decided 28 days
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Amendments 110 decided 29 days
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Outline 59 decided 44 days
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Trees 176 decided 53 days
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Lawful development 188 decided 56 days
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Householder 583 decided 64 days
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Conditions 110 decided 66 days
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Advertising 29 decided 67 days
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Full applications 208 decided 84 days
What Waverley decides
Year to December 2026
Waverley issued 1,605 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 90% were approvals: 1,394 granted against 157 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 Waverley?
The median planning application decided by Waverley in the year to December 2026 took 58 days from submission to decision, 2 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,605 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.
Does Waverley meet the eight week target?
47% of the 1,605 decisions Waverley made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 84% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 113 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.
Is Waverley faster or slower than average?
Waverley is slower than average: its median of 58 days is 1 day above the national median of 57 days.
What proportion of applications does Waverley approve?
90% of the clear-cut outcomes Waverley issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 1,394 granted against 157 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.
Cite these figures
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Waverley planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 58 days from application to decision (2 days beyond the eight week target), across 1,605 decisions with both dates published. 47% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 84% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 113 days. 90% 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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<p>Data: <a href="https://planindex.co.uk/planning-decision-times/waverley">Planning decision times, from PlanIndex</a></p>