Planning decisions in Cambridge

How long Cambridge takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,659 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.

51 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 53 from receipt
78%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 90% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 90%): 2,232 approved, 129 refused, 142 withdrawn
126 of 388UK rank for speed, down 38 places on last year; 99 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 50 days, 235 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 50 days, 207 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 49 days, 277 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 52 days, 187 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 198 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 51 days, 226 decisionsMarApril 2026: 53 days, 226 decisionsAprMay 2026: 55 days, 177 decisionsMayJune 2026: 54 days, 198 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 50 days, 236 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 53 days, 197 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 295 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
Tree works3695%97%673119 of 324
Discharge of conditions4969%98%598103 of 310
Householder applications5489%95%43163 of 200
Full applications6047%90%321199 of 359
Amendments4773%93%196178 of 356
Listed building consent5567%99%15064 of 307
Lawful development certificates5386%88%104189 of 348
Prior approvals5092%84%75319 of 340
Advertisement consent5571%89%72160 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%5195%2,600
Planning committee2%11983%41

Where the register states how the decision was made. 18 decisions did not say.

Appeals

34 appeals against Cambridge decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 26 for every 100 refusals; 24% 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 far5365%94%1,940

* 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 388 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.