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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Winchester

62 days.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Winchester took 62 days from submission to decision — 6 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,099 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.

62 days
Median decision 6 days beyond the eight week target
43%
Within eight weeks 77% within thirteen
125 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Winchester compares

Year to December 2026

Winchester takes longer than the country as a whole: 5 days above the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 43%.

The average here is 72 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 125 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 473 43%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 377 34%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 249 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.

Winchester: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
June 2025 57 16 of 31

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.

  1. Prior approval 25 decided 42 days
  2. Trees 235 decided 55 days
  3. Amendments 69 decided 56 days
  4. Conditions 139 decided 56 days
  5. Lawful development 74 decided 63 days
  6. Advertising 19 decided 64 days
  7. Householder 283 decided 72 days
  8. Heritage and listed buildings 40 decided 76 days
  9. Full applications 84 decided 105 days

How these types compare nationally

What Winchester decides

Year to December 2026

Winchester issued 1,099 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 96% were approvals: 969 granted against 37 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 Winchester?

The median planning application decided by Winchester in the year to December 2026 took 62 days from submission to decision, 6 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,099 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date.

Does Winchester meet the eight week target?

43% of the 1,099 decisions Winchester made in the year to December 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 77% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 125 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Winchester faster or slower than average?

Winchester is slower than average: its median of 62 days is 5 days above the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Winchester approve?

96% of the clear-cut outcomes Winchester issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 969 granted against 37 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Winchester planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 62 days from application to decision (6 days beyond the eight week target), across 1,099 decisions with both dates published. 43% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 77% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 125 days. 96% 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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