Planning decisions in Brent

How long Brent takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,447 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.

55 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 56 from receipt
81%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 95% within thirteen
79%approved (UK 90%): 1,860 approved, 502 refused, 79 withdrawn
214 of 388UK rank for speed, down 81 places on last year; 381 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 62 days, 13 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 7 days, 19 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 47 days, 74 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 190 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 207 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 224 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 243 decisionsAprMay 2026: 61 days, 252 decisionsMayJune 2026: 63 days, 243 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 59 days, 291 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 59 days, 278 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 55 days, 413 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 applications5671%70%70891 of 359
Householder applications5671%85%528113 of 200
Prior approvals799%82%4104 of 340
Lawful development certificates5591%73%338229 of 348
Tree works3599%97%146105 of 324
Amendments5075%85%133210 of 356
Discharge of conditions5581%89%114188 of 310
Advertisement consent5677%70%51197 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5579%2,443
Planning committeeunder 1%208100%2

Where the register states how the decision was made. 2 decisions did not say.

Appeals

210 appeals against Brent decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 42 for every 100 refusals; 17% were allowed. Every appeal in Brent.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *7135%86%100
2017 *5382%63%1,714
2018 *706%6%46
2019 *5746%95%85
2020 *6345%95%67
2021 *5584%47%33
2022 *4970%99%81
2023 *4975%93%171
2024 *5750%79%80
2025 *4872%98%178
2026 so far5651%79%2,341

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

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.