Planning decisions in Colchester

How long Colchester takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,416 decisions it made in the twelve months to October 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.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 59 from receipt
63%decided within eight weeks (UK 65%), 84% within thirteen
87%approved (UK 90%): 1,197 approved, 176 refused, 36 withdrawn
266 of 389UK rank for speed, down 53 places on last year; 296 of 389 for approvals
056 November 2025: 53 days, 109 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 55 days, 106 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 59 days, 112 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 62 days, 100 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 140 decisionsMarApril 2026: 60 days, 110 decisionsAprMay 2026: 58 days, 89 decisionsMayJune 2026: 63 days, 124 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 63 days, 133 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 61 days, 94 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 64 days, 141 decisionsSeptOctober 2026: 64 days, 158 decisionsOct
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 applications5661%85%811108 of 361
Discharge of conditions5563%97%191179 of 311
Lawful development certificates5678%83%118275 of 348
Prior approvals4583%77%78295 of 339
Listed building consent6640%93%77202 of 315
Advertisement consent5667%88%60203 of 325
Amendments5662%96%58289 of 358
Outline applications *5654%69%1338 of 121

Appeals

69 appeals against Colchester decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 39 for every 100 refusals; 33% were allowed. Every appeal in Colchester.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5664%87%50
2017 *3477%88%28
2018 *5661%94%73
2019 *6332%94%90
2020 *5657%93%41
2021 *3870%73%43
2022 *3176%76%34
2023 *3371%84%36
2024 *5746%64%41
2025 *6936%87%108
2026 so far6243%87%1,201

* 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 Colchester's planning register. Ranks are among the 389 published councils. See planning applications in Colchester, appeals, or get alerts for Colchester.

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.