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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Woking

56 days. Ranked 14 of 45.

In the year to December 2026, the median planning application decided by Woking took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 1,053 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
14 of 45
UK rank First measured window
53%
Within eight weeks 84% within thirteen
111 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Woking compares

Year to December 2026

Woking decides faster than the country as a whole: 1 day below the national median of 57 days. Nationally 49% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 53%.

The average here is 70 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 111 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 560 53%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 328 31%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 165 16%

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.

Woking: median days from application to decision, by rolling twelve month window. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.
Twelve months to Median days UK rank
December 2026 56 14 of 45
September 2026 56 22 of 56

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. Amendments 12 decided 27 days
  2. Prior approval 10 decided 36 days
  3. Outline 21 decided 51 days
  4. Trees 141 decided 52 days
  5. Lawful development 52 decided 55 days
  6. Householder 246 decided 62 days
  7. Conditions 110 decided 65 days
  8. Advertising 10 decided 72 days
  9. Full applications 79 decided 83 days

How these types compare nationally

What Woking decides

Year to December 2026

Woking issued 1,053 decisions in the year to December 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 87% were approvals: 898 granted against 132 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 Woking?

The median planning application decided by Woking in the year to December 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 1,053 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 14 of 45 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Woking meet the eight week target?

53% of the 1,053 decisions Woking 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 111 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Woking faster or slower than average?

Woking is faster than average: its median of 56 days is 1 day below the national median of 57 days.

What proportion of applications does Woking approve?

87% of the clear-cut outcomes Woking issued in the year to December 2026 were approvals: 898 granted against 132 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Woking planning decision times, year to December 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 1,053 decisions with both dates published. 53% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 84% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 111 days. Ranked 14 of 45 UK councils on decision speed (national median 57 days). 87% 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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