Planning decisions in Chester

How long Chester takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,935 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.

49 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 52 from receipt
71%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 87% within thirteen
94%approved (UK 90%): 1,741 approved, 113 refused, 73 withdrawn
83 of 388UK rank for speed, up 238 places on last year; 120 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 76 days, 332 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 70 days, 305 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 21 days, 24 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 42 days, 98 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 50 days, 113 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 49 days, 204 decisionsMarApril 2026: 52 days, 215 decisionsAprMay 2026: 53 days, 238 decisionsMayJune 2026: 53 days, 229 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 61 days, 248 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 51 days, 251 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 314 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 applications5558%94%69782 of 359
Tree works4395%99%383219 of 324
Prior approvals195%88%3141 of 340
Lawful development certificates4776%91%146100 of 348
Discharge of conditions6246%98%139256 of 310
Amendments4569%93%121160 of 356
Listed building consent6539%97%69196 of 307
Advertisement consent11021%97%31317 of 320
Outline applications *1610%38%16107 of 110
Other *9310%100%1034 of 35

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5293%1,570
Planning committeeunder 1%56100%1

Where the register states how the decision was made. 364 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *4377%97%156
2017 *2591%92%100
2018 *3474%85%107
2019 *5053%80%169
2020 *9637%88%73
2021 *1306%81%39
2022 *10814%95%84
2023 *16828%86%379
2024 *6343%98%53
2025 *8820%97%30
2026 so far5261%94%1,910

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Chester's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Chester, appeals, or get alerts for Chester.

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.