Planning decisions in Dudley

How long Dudley takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,385 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); 55 from receipt
67%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 86% within thirteen
83%approved (UK 90%): 1,097 approved, 217 refused, 50 withdrawn
197 of 388UK rank for speed, down 2 places on last year; 352 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 54 days, 101 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 49 days, 108 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 50 days, 83 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 90 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 74 days, 149 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 54 days, 122 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 131 decisionsAprMay 2026: 55 days, 132 decisionsMayJune 2026: 52 days, 121 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 53 days, 122 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 106 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 120 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 applications5568%85%71764 of 359
Tree works7818%69%159319 of 324
Lawful development certificates3484%83%12533 of 348
Prior approvals4091%84%116228 of 340
Discharge of conditions6348%95%82262 of 310
Other0100%100%571 of 35
Amendments2974%75%5652 of 356
Advertisement consent5282%71%4977 of 320
Listed building consent *5570%100%1660 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5484%1,036
Planning committee1%11370%10

Where the register states how the decision was made. 339 decisions did not say.

Appeals

74 appeals against Dudley decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 34 for every 100 refusals; 32% were allowed. Every appeal in Dudley.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *4878%95%125
2017 *5571%90%69
2018 *5479%99%70
2019 *6940%96%26
2020 *4790%93%33
2021 *5369%83%48
2022 *4177%92%119
2023 *3479%98%140
2024 *6349%94%160
2025 *4291%90%119
2026 so far5561%83%1,093

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

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.