Planning decisions in Bristol

How long Bristol takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,460 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.

48 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 48 from receipt
79%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 94% within thirteen
86%approved (UK 89%): 1,349 approved, 212 refused, 59 withdrawn
75 of 321UK rank for speed, down 52 places on last year; 244 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 46 days, 421 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 45 days, 466 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 48 days, 387 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 44 days, 334 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 16 days, 42 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 35 days, 192 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 43 days, 358 decisionsMarApril 2026: 49 days, 343 decisionsAprMay 2026: 49 days, 351 decisionsMayJune 2026: 50 days, 387 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 50 days, 369 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 52 days, 418 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)5565%82%710144 of 302
Tree works28100%97%63846 of 259
Lawful development certificates2996%100%34822 of 253
Listed building consent4782%87%1505 of 200
Amendments3184%83%132113 of 263
Advertisement consent5278%75%8463 of 190
Prior approvals4994%51%81128 of 168

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%4887%2,240
Planning committeeunder 1%72100%2

Where the register states how the decision was made. 218 decisions did not say.

Appeals

140 appeals against Bristol decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 66 for every 100 refusals; 21% were allowed. Every appeal in Bristol.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5656%90%220
2017 *52100%20%30
2018 *6143%89%360
2019 *6639%91%320
2020 *5497%23%40
2021 *7026%90%111
2022 *1091%91%167
2023 *8935%79%224
2024 *5557%79%374
2025 *6534%74%140
2026 so far4879%86%2,460

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

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.