Planning decisions in Cambridge

How long Cambridge takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 923 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.

49 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 49 from receipt
88%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 96% within thirteen
93%approved (UK 89%): 631 approved, 49 refused, 39 withdrawn
81 of 322UK rank for speed, up 20 places on last year; 134 of 322 for approvals
056 September 2025: 49 days, 241 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 51 days, 241 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 52 days, 209 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 49 days, 231 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 54 days, 166 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 37 days, 23 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 43 days, 84 decisionsMarApril 2026: 45 days, 125 decisionsAprMay 2026: 52 days, 123 decisionsMayJune 2026: 52 days, 179 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 46 days, 208 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 53 days, 180 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
Tree works3797%94%248114 of 261
Householder applications5391%97%15445 of 158
Full applications5665%91%99134 of 298
Amendments3489%93%7597 of 271
Listed building consent5579%100%5564 of 200
Lawful development certificates5389%92%42153 of 256
Advertisement consent5588%85%28108 of 192

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%4993%906
Planning committee1%88100%6

Where the register states how the decision was made. 11 decisions did not say.

Appeals

31 appeals against Cambridge decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 63 for every 100 refusals; 29% were allowed. Every appeal in Cambridge.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6047%97%95
2017 *5270%97%113
2018 *5665%97%138
2019 *6245%100%39
2020 *2775%84%32
2021 *2769%100%26
2022 *5163%95%555
2023 *7132%82%71
2024 *2886%90%106
2025 *5651%86%79
2026 so far4988%93%923

* 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 Cambridge's planning register. Ranks are among the 322 published councils. See planning applications in Cambridge, appeals, or get alerts for Cambridge.

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.