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Decision times · South West

How long planning decisions take in Wiltshire

50 days. Ranked 31 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Wiltshire took 50 days from submission to decision — 6 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 5,787 decisions where the council published both dates.

50 days
Median decision 6 days inside the eight week target
31 of 343
UK rank up 12 places in a year
67%
Within eight weeks 85% within thirteen
112 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Wiltshire compares

Year to September 2026

Wiltshire decides faster than the country as a whole: 6 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 67%.

The average here is 65 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 112 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 3,889 67%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 1,058 18%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 840 15%

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.

Wiltshire: 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 50 31 of 343
June 2026 49 39 of 328
March 2026 43 27 of 243
December 2025 42 38 of 236
September 2025 44 43 of 324
June 2025 43 10 of 313
March 2025 43 10 of 315
December 2024 43 12 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 44 days, Wiltshire has moved up 12 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. Prior approval 262 decided 28 days
  2. Trees 1,738 decided 38 days
  3. Other 23 decided 45 days
  4. Lawful development 208 decided 50 days
  5. Conditions 515 decided 53 days
  6. Outline 81 decided 55 days
  7. Advertising 59 decided 56 days
  8. Amendments 204 decided 56 days
  9. Heritage and listed buildings 542 decided 56 days
  10. Householder 1,369 decided 56 days
  11. Full applications 725 decided 79 days
  12. Reserved matters 14 decided 217 days

How these types compare nationally

What Wiltshire decides

Year to September 2026

Wiltshire issued 5,787 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 95% were approvals: 5,057 granted against 277 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 Wiltshire?

The median planning application decided by Wiltshire in the year to September 2026 took 50 days from submission to decision, 6 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 5,787 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 31 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Wiltshire meet the eight week target?

67% of the 5,787 decisions Wiltshire made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 85% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 112 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Wiltshire faster or slower than average?

Wiltshire is faster than average: its median of 50 days is 6 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Wiltshire getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 44 days, Wiltshire has moved up 12 places in the table. Its median has risen by 6 days.

What proportion of applications does Wiltshire approve?

95% of the clear-cut outcomes Wiltshire issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 5,057 granted against 277 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Wiltshire planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 50 days from application to decision (6 days inside the eight week target), across 5,787 decisions with both dates published. 67% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 85% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 112 days. Ranked 31 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 95% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.