Planning decisions in Bolton

How long Bolton takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,678 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.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 57 from receipt
59%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 85% within thirteen
79%approved (UK 90%): 1,114 approved, 291 refused, 33 withdrawn
291 of 388UK rank for speed, down 138 places on last year; 380 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 54 days, 114 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 58 days, 131 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 138 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 66 days, 144 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 63 days, 137 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 144 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 144 decisionsAprMay 2026: 57 days, 150 decisionsMayJune 2026: 61 days, 148 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 58 days, 175 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 57 days, 137 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 67 days, 116 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
Householder applications5659%83%489136 of 200
Full applications7237%70%307276 of 359
Tree works5066%93%212264 of 324
Lawful development certificates4878%78%116108 of 348
Amendments5159%82%108229 of 356
Prior approvals4194%72%107234 of 340
Advertisement consent5276%70%4890 of 320
Listed building consent8723%77%33277 of 307
Outline applications5256%48%2528 of 110

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%5679%1,603
Planning committee2%9484%38

Where the register states how the decision was made. 37 decisions did not say.

Appeals

77 appeals against Bolton decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 26 for every 100 refusals; 19% were allowed. Every appeal in Bolton.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5568%86%31
2017 *5651%83%44
2018 *2888%76%73
2019 *6444%97%35
2020 *5551%97%38
2021 *6136%83%50
2022 *5949%81%54
2023 *5361%76%51
2024 *4862%90%39
2025 *5847%87%48
2026 so far5847%79%1,295

* 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 Bolton's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Bolton, appeals, or get alerts for Bolton.

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.