Planning decisions in Cotswold

How long Cotswold takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,535 decisions it made in the twelve months to August 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.

42 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 44 from receipt
77%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 92% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 89%): 1,352 approved, 67 refused, 71 withdrawn
31 of 321UK rank for speed, up 11 places on last year; 68 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 51 days, 281 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 49 days, 295 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 46 days, 280 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 46 days, 216 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 16 days, 25 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 29 days, 113 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 39 days, 224 decisionsMarApril 2026: 45 days, 247 decisionsAprMay 2026: 50 days, 225 decisionsMayJune 2026: 50 days, 244 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 235 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 42 days, 222 decisionsAug
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (52 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Tree works2897%99%51652 of 259
Full applications (including householder)5558%93%456111 of 302
Discharge of conditions3781%99%21030 of 175
Listed building consent5942%96%154144 of 200
Lawful development certificates4388%78%4666 of 253
Amendments1295%83%442 of 263
Prior approvals *2893%67%3839 of 168
Other3376%97%3734 of 41
Outline applications *4570%60%1013 of 39

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%4295%1,507
Planning committeeunder 1%7050%4

Where the register states how the decision was made. 24 decisions did not say.

Appeals

51 appeals against Cotswold decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 76 for every 100 refusals; 25% were allowed. Every appeal in Cotswold.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5655%97%30
2017 *5746%97%39
2018 *9111%93%28
2019 *4366%91%92
2020 *5255%100%317
2021 *2887%89%57
2022 *2983%83%44
2023 *2898%98%51
2024 *7017%83%30
2025 *2486%86%118
2026 so far4466%95%1,535

* 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 Cotswold's planning register. Ranks are among the 321 published councils. See planning applications in Cotswold, appeals, or get alerts for Cotswold.

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.