Planning decisions in Bath

How long Bath takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,438 decisions it made in the twelve months to September 2026. Days run from validation to decision, the clock the council reports against; the wait from receipt is shown beside it. How the figures are made.

50 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 53 from receipt
67%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 83% within thirteen
97%approved (UK 90%): 3,156 approved, 106 refused, 133 withdrawn
110 of 388UK rank for speed, down 55 places on last year; 39 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 55 days, 242 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 43 days, 259 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 42 days, 303 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 218 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 223 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 298 decisionsMarApril 2026: 54 days, 314 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 304 decisionsMayJune 2026: 53 days, 350 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 295 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 52 days, 294 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 49 days, 338 decisionsSept
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (54 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications5654%96%1,021142 of 359
Tree works3599%over 99%952103 of 324
Discharge of conditions5261%97%485145 of 310
Listed building consent8522%98%398269 of 307
Amendments4968%96%217192 of 356
Lawful development certificates5173%94%197161 of 348
Advertisement consent6146%88%69276 of 320
Prior approvals3984%82%57218 of 340
Outline applications *10322%72%1993 of 110
Section 106 and planning obligations *5450%100%1010 of 29

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5844%88%97
2017 *6140%92%112
2018 *2785%98%227
2019 *5064%87%185
2020 *3499%99%960
2021 *6046%93%48
2022 *7621%97%63
2023 *7521%86%62
2024 *6435%85%63
2025 *6638%97%63
2026 so far5457%97%2,634

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Past their target date now

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Bath's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Bath, appeals, or get alerts for Bath.

About these figures

How are decision times measured?
Days from the date the council validated the application to the date it decided it, for applications approved or refused in the window. That is the clock councils report against and the official statistics use. Each council’s page also shows the count from receipt, which is what the applicant actually waited. Withdrawn and undecided applications are not timed.
Why do these figures differ from the council’s own?
Councils count an agreed extension of time as decided on time; we treat the calendar as the calendar. Our figures are also live and rolling, where official statistics are quarterly and annual. So a council’s own within-eight-weeks figure will usually sit a little above ours.
What counts as approved?
Approval rate is approvals divided by approvals plus refusals. Withdrawals, and decisions whose outcome the register does not state, are counted in the totals but not in the rate.
Why is a council missing?
A council is published when it has at least 25 timed decisions in the window and its register’s decision data passes our consistency checks. Councils that fail are listed with the reason rather than shown with a number that would mislead.
How often is this updated?
Nightly, from the decisions we collect from every council register we monitor. The window is the twelve months to the last complete month.