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Decision times · South East

How long planning decisions take in Woking

56 days. Ranked 147 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Woking took 56 days from submission to decision — exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 966 decisions where the council published both dates.

56 days
Median decision exactly the eight week target
147 of 343
UK rank down 59 places in a year
61%
Within eight weeks 86% within thirteen
101 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Woking compares

Year to September 2026

Woking sits exactly on the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 61%.

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, 101 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 591 61%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 243 25%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 132 14%

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
September 2026 56 147 of 343
June 2026 55 127 of 328
March 2026 55 140 of 243
December 2025 52 125 of 236
September 2025 51 88 of 324
June 2025 53 67 of 313
March 2025 53 68 of 315
December 2024 53 70 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 51 days, Woking has moved down 59 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. Amendments 19 decided 25 days
  2. Prior approval 17 decided 36 days
  3. Trees 231 decided 50 days
  4. Outline 37 decided 51 days
  5. Lawful development 76 decided 55 days
  6. Householder 318 decided 56 days
  7. Conditions 142 decided 58 days
  8. Advertising 15 decided 62 days
  9. Full applications 100 decided 76 days

How these types compare nationally

What Woking decides

Year to September 2026

Woking issued 966 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 87% were approvals: 822 granted against 126 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 September 2026 took 56 days from submission to decision, exactly the eight week target. That is measured across 966 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 147 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Woking meet the eight week target?

61% of the 966 decisions Woking made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 86% 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 Woking faster or slower than average?

Woking sits exactly on the national median of 56 days.

Is Woking getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 51 days, Woking has moved down 59 places in the table. Its median has risen by 5 days.

What proportion of applications does Woking approve?

87% of the clear-cut outcomes Woking issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 822 granted against 126 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 September 2026: median 56 days from application to decision (exactly the eight week target), across 966 decisions with both dates published. 61% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 86% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 101 days. Ranked 147 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 87% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.