Planning decisions in Buckinghamshire

How long Buckinghamshire takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 5,518 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); 56 from receipt
62%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 87% within thirteen
86%approved (UK 90%): 4,443 approved, 742 refused, 157 withdrawn
285 of 388UK rank for speed, down 283 places on last year; 322 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 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, 553 decisionsMarApril 2026: 27 days, 700 decisionsAprMay 2026: 55 days, 742 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 881 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 790 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 726 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 57 days, 851 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 applications6043%86%1,795204 of 359
Tree works4282%92%929213 of 324
Discharge of conditions5566%92%701191 of 310
Lawful development certificates5667%74%569289 of 348
Prior approvals2695%84%52655 of 340
Amendments5566%78%280275 of 356
Listed building consent6635%86%218203 of 307
Advertisement consent5669%84%52203 of 320
Outline applications3673%44%426 of 110

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5686%4,957
Planning committeeunder 1%96100%8

Where the register states how the decision was made. 553 decisions did not say.

Appeals

307 appeals against Buckinghamshire decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 41 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%86%5,518

* 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 388 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.