Planning decisions in Carmarthenshire

How long Carmarthenshire takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,196 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); 57 from receipt
59%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 78% within thirteen
81%approved (UK 90%): 934 approved, 217 refused, 24 withdrawn
138 of 388UK rank for speed, down 95 places on last year; 364 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 50 days, 112 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 50 days, 100 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 49 days, 101 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 51 days, 91 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 70 days, 90 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 62 days, 103 decisionsMarApril 2026: 63 days, 96 decisionsAprMay 2026: 58 days, 93 decisionsMayJune 2026: 58 days, 103 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 60 days, 106 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 81 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 85 days, 120 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 applications7536%78%393290 of 359
Householder applications5260%88%25245 of 200
Amendments3174%80%13567 of 356
Discharge of conditions4470%84%11359 of 310
Lawful development certificates3690%75%7942 of 348
Prior approvals1891%79%7719 of 340
Listed building consent7834%82%39250 of 307
Tree works2289%92%3631 of 324
Advertisement consent *4667%96%2421 of 320

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *8128%100%27
2017 *4069%96%49
2018 *4487%100%31
2019 *1538%100%49
2020 *5353%92%160
2021 *2104%79%59
2022 *5945%100%34
2023 *6625%83%56
2024 *3282%97%40
2025 *3380%95%42
2026 so far6246%81%883

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

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.