Planning decisions in Bromley

How long Bromley takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 4,194 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); 59 from receipt
68%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 90% within thirteen
80%approved (UK 90%): 3,024 approved, 751 refused, 44 withdrawn
273 of 388UK rank for speed, down 61 places on last year; 377 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 65 days, 358 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 60 days, 391 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 377 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 63 days, 319 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 62 days, 274 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 331 decisionsMarApril 2026: 58 days, 330 decisionsAprMay 2026: 59 days, 373 decisionsMayJune 2026: 62 days, 386 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 61 days, 400 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 326 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 60 days, 329 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 applications5676%79%1,474109 of 200
Tree works5255%94%927277 of 324
Lawful development certificates5675%78%499280 of 348
Full applications6146%69%478208 of 359
Amendments5377%72%218247 of 356
Prior approvals3997%73%170209 of 340
Advertisement consent6050%82%69267 of 320
Listed building consent *6738%75%17205 of 307
Outline applications *5075%17%1223 of 111

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5680%4,145
Planning committee1%12577%46

Where the register states how the decision was made. 3 decisions did not say.

Appeals

284 appeals against Bromley decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 38 for every 100 refusals; 30% were allowed. Every appeal in Bromley.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6638%96%31
2017 *7027%80%44
2018 *4995%54%40
2019 *8925%85%42
2020 *5462%79%222
2021 *5361%18%29
2022 *11815%89%63
2023 *6345%79%307
2024 *7822%79%72
2025 *11916%85%62
2026 so far5943%78%3,068

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

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.