Planning decisions in Cardiff

How long Cardiff takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,231 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.

50 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 54 from receipt
60%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 77% within thirteen
96%approved (UK 90%): 2,035 approved, 92 refused, 68 withdrawn
117 of 388UK rank for speed, down 106 places on last year; 64 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 44 days, 172 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 49 days, 141 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 46 days, 164 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 182 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 173 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 47 days, 189 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 178 decisionsAprMay 2026: 58 days, 204 decisionsMayJune 2026: 55 days, 213 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 211 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 60 days, 194 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 54 days, 210 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
Householder applications5653%95%623147 of 200
Full applications6544%91%442232 of 359
Discharge of conditions6346%100%329265 of 310
Tree works8100%100%2158 of 324
Amendments3965%98%196115 of 356
Lawful development certificates1994%95%19510 of 348
Advertisement consent3378%97%1083 of 320
Listed building consent1148%97%68300 of 307
Prior approvals *3996%92%34211 of 340

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%4797%1,880
Planning committee1%9888%16

Where the register states how the decision was made. 335 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6630%100%60
2017 *46100%8%63
2018 *597%100%199
2019 *499%100%171
2020 *5656%77%50
2021 *5381%98%56
2022 *8917%97%61
2023 *999%99%145
2024 *998%97%160
2025 *10827%95%42
2026 so far5554%95%1,754

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

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.