Planning decisions in Cheshire East

How long Cheshire East takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 4,553 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.

66 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 73 from receipt
43%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 66% within thirteen
89%approved (UK 90%): 3,695 approved, 447 refused, 189 withdrawn
358 of 388UK rank for speed, down 101 places on last year; 249 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 74 days, 455 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 71 days, 384 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 72 days, 425 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 78 days, 351 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 79 days, 356 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 63 days, 419 decisionsMarApril 2026: 70 days, 359 decisionsAprMay 2026: 69 days, 335 decisionsMayJune 2026: 70 days, 416 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 70 days, 416 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 77 days, 280 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 79 days, 357 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 applications6345%92%1,231172 of 200
Full applications13014%83%688355 of 359
Tree works5651%96%620302 of 324
Discharge of conditions7039%92%557286 of 310
Lawful development certificates5556%100%342259 of 348
Amendments5554%91%336289 of 356
Prior approvals3587%79%300164 of 340
Outline applications13613%49%160104 of 110
Listed building consent9720%94%145288 of 307
Advertisement consent5651%89%98249 of 320
Reserved matters *1650%91%3241 of 44

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%6490%4,309
Planning committee3%24068%115

Where the register states how the decision was made. 129 decisions did not say.

Appeals

190 appeals against Cheshire East decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 43 for every 100 refusals; 25% were allowed. Every appeal in Cheshire East.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5575%99%116
2017 *4575%95%339
2018 *2791%89%39
2019 *4875%92%225
2020 *5651%95%64
2021 *1427%93%115
2022 *2674%74%48
2023 *8815%96%86
2024 *11816%88%99
20257038%89%1,737
2026 so far7336%90%3,289

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

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.