Planning decisions in Croydon

How long Croydon takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,061 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.

54 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 56 from receipt
69%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 86% within thirteen
77%approved (UK 90%): 2,227 approved, 647 refused, 66 withdrawn
192 of 388UK rank for speed, down 118 places on last year; 384 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 263 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 237 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 55 days, 245 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 59 days, 236 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 59 days, 211 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 304 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 265 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 256 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 291 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 270 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 58 days, 231 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 55 days, 252 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 applications5565%87%74594 of 200
Full applications6345%59%607221 of 359
Lawful development certificates4390%82%44372 of 348
Discharge of conditions5568%77%440190 of 310
Tree works3198%91%34476 of 324
Prior approvals4279%48%227281 of 340
Amendments4074%82%157117 of 356
Advertisement consent6440%86%70289 of 320
Outline applications *7450%25%1661 of 110

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5377%3,031
Planning committee1%17283%24

Where the register states how the decision was made. 6 decisions did not say.

Appeals

151 appeals against Croydon decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 23 for every 100 refusals; 21% were allowed. Every appeal in Croydon.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5930%82%147
2017 *46100%53%36
2018 *5654%96%94
2019 *5561%88%67
2020 *5392%47%37
2021 *8322%72%84
2022 *5396%32%29
2023 *6531%76%49
2024 *5655%82%55
2025 *5748%97%58
2026 so far5652%78%2,316

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

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.