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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Windsor and Maidenhead

55 days. Ranked 94 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Windsor and Maidenhead took 55 days from submission to decision — 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,711 decisions where the council published both dates.

55 days
Median decision 1 day inside the eight week target
94 of 343
UK rank up 65 places in a year
57%
Within eight weeks 88% within thirteen
101 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Windsor and Maidenhead compares

Year to September 2026

Windsor and Maidenhead decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 57%.

The average here is 63 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 101 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 1,541 57%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 842 31%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 328 12%

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.

Windsor and Maidenhead: 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 55 94 of 343
June 2026 55 114 of 328
March 2026 55 131 of 243
December 2025 54 145 of 236
September 2025 56 159 of 324
June 2025 56 132 of 313
March 2025 56 130 of 315
December 2024 57 161 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 56 days, Windsor and Maidenhead has moved up 65 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. Trees 477 decided 43 days
  2. Prior approval 105 decided 44 days
  3. Amendments 170 decided 47 days
  4. Lawful development 315 decided 50 days
  5. Conditions 443 decided 51 days
  6. Outline 16 decided 54 days
  7. Heritage and listed buildings 107 decided 61 days
  8. Advertising 56 decided 62 days
  9. Full applications 964 decided 62 days
  10. Reserved matters 10 decided 81 days

How these types compare nationally

What Windsor and Maidenhead decides

Year to September 2026

Windsor and Maidenhead issued 2,711 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 80% were approvals: 1,984 granted against 494 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 Windsor and Maidenhead?

The median planning application decided by Windsor and Maidenhead in the year to September 2026 took 55 days from submission to decision, 1 day inside the eight week target. That is measured across 2,711 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 94 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Windsor and Maidenhead meet the eight week target?

57% of the 2,711 decisions Windsor and Maidenhead made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 88% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 101 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Windsor and Maidenhead faster or slower than average?

Windsor and Maidenhead is faster than average: its median of 55 days is 1 day below the national median of 56 days.

Is Windsor and Maidenhead getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 56 days, Windsor and Maidenhead has moved up 65 places in the table. Its median has fallen by 1 day.

What proportion of applications does Windsor and Maidenhead approve?

80% of the clear-cut outcomes Windsor and Maidenhead issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 1,984 granted against 494 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

Click the text to select the whole citation.

Windsor and Maidenhead planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 55 days from application to decision (1 day inside the eight week target), across 2,711 decisions with both dates published. 57% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 88% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 101 days. Ranked 94 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 80% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.