Planning decisions in Bcp

How long Bcp takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 5,087 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.

58 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 62 from receipt
47%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 86% within thirteen
87%approved (UK 90%): 4,178 approved, 613 refused, 145 withdrawn
341 of 388UK rank for speed, down 85 places on last year; 295 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 64 days, 411 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 65 days, 440 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 67 days, 409 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 64 days, 495 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 63 days, 335 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 57 days, 386 decisionsMarApril 2026: 60 days, 394 decisionsAprMay 2026: 59 days, 409 decisionsMayJune 2026: 62 days, 487 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 63 days, 436 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 60 days, 420 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 63 days, 465 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
Tree works6139%95%2,271310 of 324
Householder applications5661%89%1,029129 of 200
Full applications8230%76%758312 of 359
Lawful development certificates5570%76%368250 of 348
Amendments5559%78%342283 of 356
Advertisement consent5562%78%107171 of 320
Prior approvals4290%73%93270 of 340
Listed building consent9227%82%47282 of 307
Outline applications *20419%38%24110 of 111
Discharge of conditions *6847%100%21279 of 310
Reserved matters *1330%92%1336 of 45

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5887%5,044
Planning committee1%14781%43

Where the register states how the decision was made.

Appeals

177 appeals against Bcp decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 29 for every 100 refusals; 27% were allowed. Every appeal in Bcp.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6440%94%56
2017 *7028%85%75
2018 *8916%90%72
2019 *8616%91%36
2020 *5286%63%37
2021 *5480%40%31
2022 *10314%96%29
2023 *6244%77%99
2024 *9315%93%47
2025 *9224%85%65
2026 so far6140%87%3,827

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

Decided in the last three weeks

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

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.