Planning decisions in Cotswold

How long Cotswold takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,980 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.

46 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 50 from receipt
69%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 86% within thirteen
94%approved (UK 90%): 2,617 approved, 159 refused, 166 withdrawn
44 of 388UK rank for speed, down 4 places on last year; 108 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 43 days, 270 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 44 days, 261 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 45 days, 204 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 211 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 59 days, 228 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 49 days, 272 decisionsMarApril 2026: 51 days, 277 decisionsAprMay 2026: 54 days, 236 decisionsMayJune 2026: 51 days, 263 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 249 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 44 days, 241 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 42 days, 268 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
Tree works2897%99%94256 of 324
Full applications6045%91%902202 of 359
Discharge of conditions4868%99%40991 of 310
Listed building consent6339%94%326177 of 307
Amendments3583%86%14085 of 356
Lawful development certificates4774%81%90101 of 348
Prior approvals3281%78%68126 of 340
Other5652%87%3328 of 35
Outline applications *5056%44%2023 of 110
Advertisement consent *5750%100%19252 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%4594%2,926
Planning committee1%13363%19

Where the register states how the decision was made. 35 decisions did not say.

Appeals

52 appeals against Cotswold decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 33 for every 100 refusals; 29% 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 far5156%94%2,245

* 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 388 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.