Planning decisions in Durham

How long Durham takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,257 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.

41 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 43 from receipt
86%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 95% within thirteen
91%approved (UK 89%): 663 approved, 64 refused, 34 withdrawn
20 of 322UK rank for speed, up 222 places on last year; 159 of 322 for approvals
056 September 2025: 23 days, 21 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 42 days, 79 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 49 days, 185 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 52 days, 218 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 15 days, 13 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 28 days, 51 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 42 days, 133 decisionsMarApril 2026: 42 days, 181 decisionsAprMay 2026: 48 days, 219 decisionsMayJune 2026: 44 days, 218 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 50 days, 233 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 50 days, 209 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
Full applications5666%53%504132 of 298
Tree works3498%90%23084 of 261
Discharge of conditions4175%99%17248 of 178
Amendments2689%100%10036 of 271
Prior approvals2794%83%7830 of 174
Listed building consent5380%98%5839 of 200
Advertisement consent5486%96%5784 of 192
Lawful development certificates5574%79%40198 of 256

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%3786%425
Planning committee2%10260%10

Where the register states how the decision was made. 822 decisions did not say.

Appeals

68 appeals against Durham decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 106 for every 100 refusals; 28% were allowed. Every appeal in Durham.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5458%98%139
2017 *5750%97%158
2018 *2886%95%188
2019 *5557%96%174
2020 *4178%97%314
2021 *5848%96%100
2022 *3471%96%204
2023 *4277%92%517
2024 *5839%99%119
2025 *5940%97%91
2026 so far4374%91%1,257

* 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 Durham's planning register. Ranks are among the 322 published councils. See planning applications in Durham, appeals, or get alerts for Durham.

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.