Planning decisions in Bradford

How long Bradford takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,779 decisions it made in the twelve months to August 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 52); 56 from receipt
69%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 90% within thirteen
84%approved (UK 89%): 1,285 approved, 249 refused, 17 withdrawn
261 of 321UK rank for speed, down 135 places on last year; 272 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 56 days, 326 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 56 days, 318 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 303 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 346 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 17 days, 3 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 50 days, 72 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 253 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 264 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 300 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 274 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 286 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 327 decisionsAug
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (52 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications (including householder)5668%87%914176 of 302
Tree works5847%55%181249 of 259
Prior approvals4296%54%17795 of 168
Lawful development certificates5684%83%118214 of 253
Discharge of conditions5377%97%108118 of 175
Amendments3587%87%104132 of 263
Listed building consent5654%84%80115 of 200
Advertisement consent5667%84%58143 of 190
Outline applications *7140%67%1533 of 39

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5582%761
Planning committee1%9560%5

Where the register states how the decision was made. 1,013 decisions did not say.

Appeals

123 appeals against Bradford decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 49 for every 100 refusals; 19% were allowed. Every appeal in Bradford.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5386%87%207
2017 *51100%100%28
2018 *5058%72%653
2019 *5587%76%128
2020 *5093%91%72
2021 *5097%95%42
2022 *5386%75%110
2023 *5059%75%441
2024 *2890%78%150
2025 *6243%96%308
2026 so far5669%84%1,779

* 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 Bradford's planning register. Ranks are among the 321 published councils. See planning applications in Bradford, appeals, or get alerts for Bradford.

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.