Skip to content
PlanIndex Get alerts
Menu

Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Winchester

59 days. Ranked 208 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Winchester took 59 days from submission to decision — 3 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,223 decisions where the council published both dates.

59 days
Median decision 3 days beyond the eight week target
208 of 343
UK rank down 168 places in a year
45%
Within eight weeks 83% within thirteen
110 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Winchester compares

Year to September 2026

Winchester takes longer than the country as a whole: 3 days above the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 45%.

The average here is 66 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 110 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 550 45%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 464 38%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 209 17%

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
September 2026 59 208 of 343
June 2026 57 199 of 328
March 2026 56 161 of 243
December 2025 56 173 of 236
September 2025 42 40 of 324
June 2025 56 135 of 313
March 2025 56 134 of 315
December 2024 57 166 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 42 days, Winchester has moved down 168 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 31 decided 42 days
  2. Conditions 208 decided 48 days
  3. Outline 13 decided 53 days
  4. Amendments 83 decided 56 days
  5. Trees 328 decided 56 days
  6. Lawful development 74 decided 63 days
  7. Advertising 27 decided 64 days
  8. Householder 298 decided 65 days
  9. Heritage and listed buildings 51 decided 76 days
  10. Full applications 89 decided 83 days

How these types compare nationally

What Winchester decides

Year to September 2026

Winchester issued 1,223 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 96% were approvals: 1,086 granted against 44 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 September 2026 took 59 days from submission to decision, 3 days beyond the eight week target. That is measured across 1,223 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 208 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Winchester meet the eight week target?

45% of the 1,223 decisions Winchester made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 83% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 110 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 59 days is 3 days above the national median of 56 days.

Is Winchester getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 42 days, Winchester has moved down 168 places in the table. Its median has risen by 17 days.

What proportion of applications does Winchester approve?

96% of the clear-cut outcomes Winchester issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,086 granted against 44 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Winchester planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 59 days from application to decision (3 days beyond the eight week target), across 1,223 decisions with both dates published. 45% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 83% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 110 days. Ranked 208 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 96% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.