Planning decisions in Canterbury

How long Canterbury takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,461 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.

46 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 46 from receipt
76%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 90% within thirteen
97%approved (UK 90%): 1,380 approved, 36 refused, 45 withdrawn
42 of 388UK rank for speed, up 58 places on last year; 27 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 48 days, 175 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 188 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 180 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 7 days, 121 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 34 days, 142 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 41 days, 169 decisionsMarApril 2026: 40 days, 135 decisionsAprMay 2026: 47 days, 129 decisionsMayJune 2026: 53 days, 145 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 52 days, 207 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 50 days, 138 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 55 days, 173 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 applications5665%96%496101 of 359
Tree works3499%over 99%47391 of 324
Discharge of conditions5060%100%127124 of 310
Amendments3774%100%113104 of 356
Lawful development certificates5587%90%86224 of 348
Listed building consent7036%96%85219 of 307
Prior approvals *4377%92%38294 of 340
Advertisement consent *5653%96%25243 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%4697%1,426
Planning committeeunder 1%100%1

Where the register states how the decision was made. 34 decisions did not say.

Appeals

54 appeals against Canterbury decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 150 for every 100 refusals; 22% were allowed. Every appeal in Canterbury.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5671%87%54
2017 *5675%91%104
2018 *4991%96%85
2019 *5559%98%100
2020 *4879%87%132
2021 *5171%97%93
2022 *5844%92%71
2023 *5377%95%126
2024 *8920%95%46
2025 *6833%81%70
2026 so far4676%97%1,359

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

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.