Planning decisions in East Hertfordshire

How long East Hertfordshire takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,580 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.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 67 from receipt
64%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 87% within thirteen
84%approved (UK 90%): 1,166 approved, 228 refused, 109 withdrawn
280 of 388UK rank for speed, down 49 places on last year; 348 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 37 days, 7 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 53 days, 32 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 58 days, 104 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 60 days, 127 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 72 days, 117 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 57 days, 195 decisionsMarApril 2026: 62 days, 142 decisionsAprMay 2026: 69 days, 156 decisionsMayJune 2026: 67 days, 185 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 76 days, 200 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 71 days, 164 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 77 days, 151 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 applications5665%87%544120 of 200
Discharge of conditions5558%87%319186 of 310
Lawful development certificates4988%81%196115 of 348
Full applications7037%77%173258 of 359
Listed building consent5947%86%119152 of 307
Amendments5661%90%97296 of 356
Prior approvals4487%67%86296 of 340
Advertisement consent *5670%95%20185 of 320
Outline applications *3882%41%1810 of 110

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5684%1,485
Planning committeeunder 1%207100%1

Where the register states how the decision was made. 94 decisions did not say.

Appeals

116 appeals against East Hertfordshire decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 51 for every 100 refusals; 35% were allowed. Every appeal in East Hertfordshire.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5655%66%65
2017 *5938%93%43
2018 *7033%61%62
2019 *6336%88%34
2020 *6136%96%28
2021 *4762%52%103
2022 *7046%71%98
2023 *5062%73%110
2024 *4865%71%112
2025 *6629%81%31
2026 so far6937%84%1,437

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

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.