Planning decisions in Braintree

How long Braintree takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,108 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.

48 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 53 from receipt
82%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 94% within thirteen
89%approved (UK 90%): 1,728 approved, 214 refused, 106 withdrawn
60 of 388UK rank for speed; 257 of 388 for approvals
05691 January 2026: 28 days, 174 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 47 days, 123 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 183 decisionsMarApril 2026: 66 days, 186 decisionsAprMay 2026: 54 days, 156 decisionsMayJune 2026: 126 days, 197 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 36 days, 197 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 43 days, 196 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 185 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 works3999%96%412161 of 324
Discharge of conditions4464%97%27362 of 310
Lawful development certificates *5186%84%104153 of 348
Amendments *4376%79%98144 of 356
Listed building consent *4882%89%968 of 307
Prior approvals *3094%68%69112 of 340
Householder applications5092%88%5620 of 200
Full applications *5652%81%37153 of 359

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5089%264
Planning committee1%50%2

Where the register states how the decision was made. 1,842 decisions did not say.

Appeals

65 appeals against Braintree decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 30 for every 100 refusals; 28% were allowed. Every appeal in Braintree.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6726%90%31
2017 *4265%84%234
2018 *984%92%26
2019 *7918%93%47
2020 *16110%94%50
2021 *5748%79%173
2022 *5750%81%35
2023 *5557%77%203
202485%500
202589%2,149
2026 so far5361%89%1,597

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

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.