Planning decisions in Durham

How long Durham takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,809 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); 57 from receipt
68%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 84% within thirteen
94%approved (UK 90%): 2,500 approved, 160 refused, 83 withdrawn
193 of 388UK rank for speed, down 96 places on last year; 116 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 57 days, 226 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 57 days, 244 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 54 days, 241 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 59 days, 234 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 64 days, 214 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 57 days, 208 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 228 decisionsAprMay 2026: 57 days, 254 decisionsMayJune 2026: 57 days, 250 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 57 days, 274 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 230 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 57 days, 206 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 applications5657%95%1,152128 of 359
Tree works3593%90%435107 of 324
Discharge of conditions5062%99%379121 of 310
Amendments3075%97%24359 of 356
Prior approvals3886%87%201202 of 340
Listed building consent5568%98%13662 of 307
Advertisement consent5578%94%135153 of 320
Lawful development certificates5664%76%84293 of 348
Reserved matters *9321%100%1426 of 45

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%5688%1,098
Planning committee3%12075%36

Where the register states how the decision was made. 1,675 decisions did not say.

Appeals

66 appeals against Durham decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 41 for every 100 refusals; 33% 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 far5747%94%2,098

* 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 388 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.