Planning decisions in Buckinghamshire

How long Buckinghamshire takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,329 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
62%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 88% within thirteen
80%approved (UK 89%): 1,065 approved, 261 refused, 75 withdrawn
270 of 321UK rank for speed, down 268 places on last year; 293 of 321 for approvals
05691 September 2025: 46 days, 244 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 56 days, 441 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 41 days, 86 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 41 days, 224 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 78 days, 114 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 109 days, 45 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 12 days, 3 decisionsMarApril 2026: 27 days, 105 decisionsAprMay 2026: 54 days, 293 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 601 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 636 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 691 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)5655%85%675221 of 302
Tree works5670%87%393243 of 259
Lawful development certificates5670%74%238226 of 253
Prior approvals5388%73%151147 of 168
Amendments5655%85%124247 of 263
Other4095%38%9439 of 41
Listed building consent5848%88%88132 of 200
Advertisement consent *5684%84%20126 of 190
Outline applications *4171%47%209 of 39

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5680%2,231
Planning committeeunder 1%96100%5

Where the register states how the decision was made. 93 decisions did not say.

Appeals

278 appeals against Buckinghamshire decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 107 for every 100 refusals; 34% were allowed. Every appeal in Buckinghamshire.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *4264%100%57
2017 *4477%100%42
2018 *5651%100%39
2019 *7333%95%42
2020 *10429%95%45
2021 *14319%97%39
2022 *11227%83%43
2025 *4279%35%325
2026 so far5662%80%2,329

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

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.