Planning decisions in Exeter

How long Exeter takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,147 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.

45 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 49 from receipt
74%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 92% within thirteen
89%approved (UK 90%): 928 approved, 119 refused, 43 withdrawn
35 of 388UK rank for speed, up 54 places on last year; 265 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 10 days, 13 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 33 days, 55 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 40 days, 114 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 55 days, 106 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 47 days, 97 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 45 days, 119 decisionsMarApril 2026: 45 days, 84 decisionsAprMay 2026: 62 days, 91 decisionsMayJune 2026: 49 days, 110 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 53 days, 122 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 112 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 55 days, 124 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 applications5559%84%33580 of 359
Tree works3093%98%25867 of 324
Discharge of conditions2777%95%1454 of 310
Lawful development certificates4285%86%13864 of 348
Listed building consent5747%86%105141 of 307
Amendments2892%84%6232 of 356
Prior approvals3783%81%56193 of 340
Advertisement consent5654%85%45237 of 320

Appeals

36 appeals against Exeter decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 30 for every 100 refusals; 56% were allowed. Every appeal in Exeter.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *4569%99%114
2017 *2096%97%217
2018 *4956%98%125
2019 *3577%96%56
2020 *6147%100%114
2021 *3967%100%35
2022 *3967%95%84
2023 *5158%77%47
2024 *3966%89%94
2025 *5265%88%54
2026 so far5357%88%965

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

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.