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Decision times · West Midlands

How long planning decisions take in Wolverhampton

51 days. Ranked 47 of 343.

In the year to September 2026, the median planning application decided by Wolverhampton took 51 days from submission to decision — 5 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 412 decisions where the council published both dates.

51 days
Median decision 5 days inside the eight week target
47 of 343
UK rank up 20 places in a year
61%
Within eight weeks 77% within thirteen
157 days
Nine in ten decided by The wait to budget for

How Wolverhampton compares

Year to September 2026

Wolverhampton decides faster than the country as a whole: 5 days below the national median of 56 days. Nationally 55% of applications are decided within eight weeks; here it is 61%.

The average here is 78 days, longer than the median because a handful of applications take very much longer than the rest. For planning around, 157 days is the more useful number: nine applications in ten were decided inside it.

  1. Within eight weeks the statutory target 251 61%
  2. Eight to thirteen weeks the major development band 68 17%
  3. Over thirteen weeks commonly an agreed extension 93 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.

Wolverhampton: 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 51 47 of 343
June 2026 49 45 of 328
March 2026 53 102 of 243
December 2025 52 123 of 236
September 2025 49 67 of 324
June 2025 46 18 of 313
March 2025 47 21 of 315
December 2024 47 21 of 319

Against the same twelve months a year earlier, when the median was 49 days, Wolverhampton has moved up 20 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 31 days
  2. Lawful development 19 decided 48 days
  3. Trees 50 decided 49 days
  4. Advertising 29 decided 50 days
  5. Full applications 262 decided 55 days

How these types compare nationally

What Wolverhampton decides

Year to September 2026

Wolverhampton issued 412 decisions in the year to September 2026. Of the clear-cut outcomes, 88% were approvals: 341 granted against 47 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 Wolverhampton?

The median planning application decided by Wolverhampton in the year to September 2026 took 51 days from submission to decision, 5 days inside the eight week target. That is measured across 412 decisions where the council published both a start date and a decision date. It ranks 47 of 343 UK councils on decision speed.

Does Wolverhampton meet the eight week target?

61% of the 412 decisions Wolverhampton made in the year to September 2026 came within eight weeks of the application being received, and 77% within thirteen weeks. Nine in ten were decided within 157 days. Councils can agree an extension of time with an applicant, so a decision past eight weeks is not necessarily a missed deadline.

Is Wolverhampton faster or slower than average?

Wolverhampton is faster than average: its median of 51 days is 5 days below the national median of 56 days.

Is Wolverhampton getting faster or slower?

Against the same twelve month window a year earlier, when its median was 49 days, Wolverhampton has moved up 20 places in the table. Its median has risen by 2 days.

What proportion of applications does Wolverhampton approve?

88% of the clear-cut outcomes Wolverhampton issued in the year to September 2026 were approvals: 341 granted against 47 refused. Split decisions, withdrawals and other outcomes are excluded from that percentage.

Cite these figures

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Wolverhampton planning decision times, year to September 2026: median 51 days from application to decision (5 days inside the eight week target), across 412 decisions with both dates published. 61% were decided within the eight week statutory target, 77% within thirteen weeks; nine in ten within 157 days. Ranked 47 of 343 UK councils on decision speed (national median 56 days). 88% of clear-cut outcomes were approvals. Source: PlanIndex, planindex.co.uk.