Planning decisions in Dover

How long Dover takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,299 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.

52 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 55 from receipt
78%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 91% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 90%): 1,122 approved, 96 refused, 57 withdrawn
141 of 388UK rank for speed, up 62 places on last year; 175 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 27 days, 28 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 45 days, 87 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 51 days, 108 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 57 days, 107 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 124 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 128 decisionsMarApril 2026: 57 days, 114 decisionsAprMay 2026: 55 days, 116 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 139 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 112 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 118 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 118 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 applications5574%90%45859 of 359
Tree works4287%96%250209 of 324
Discharge of conditions3672%98%18726 of 310
Amendments4371%94%102147 of 356
Lawful development certificates5578%78%64240 of 348
Listed building consent5573%95%6458 of 307
Prior approvals3996%78%56210 of 340
Other *9339%94%1833 of 35
Advertisement consent *5585%92%14151 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%5292%1,172
Planning committee2%10291%23

Where the register states how the decision was made. 104 decisions did not say.

Appeals

26 appeals against Dover decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 27 for every 100 refusals; 4% were allowed. Every appeal in Dover.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *2786%93%30
2017 *24100%96%29
2018 *6629%100%36
2019 *3173%92%74
2020 *7023%95%100
2021 *5368%81%151
2022 *5554%93%30
2023 *6720%100%26
2024 *8121%85%88
2025 *6231%91%78
2026 so far5656%92%1,076

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

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.