Planning decisions in Guildford

How long Guildford takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,776 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); 62 from receipt
54%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 78% within thirteen
88%approved (UK 90%): 1,460 approved, 206 refused, 59 withdrawn
315 of 388UK rank for speed, down 26 places on last year; 286 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 96 days, 14 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 34 days, 19 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 43 days, 100 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 54 days, 128 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 61 days, 115 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 209 decisionsMarApril 2026: 64 days, 173 decisionsAprMay 2026: 67 days, 179 decisionsMayJune 2026: 68 days, 205 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 60 days, 258 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 68 days, 166 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 67 days, 210 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 applications7038%86%683255 of 359
Discharge of conditions6045%90%294249 of 310
Tree works4192%98%254188 of 324
Lawful development certificates5656%82%205308 of 348
Amendments5259%90%155230 of 356
Listed building consent7038%86%68217 of 307
Prior approvals3994%70%65215 of 340
Advertisement consent5468%85%35138 of 320

Appeals

121 appeals against Guildford decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 59 for every 100 refusals; 19% were allowed. Every appeal in Guildford.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5575%79%76
2017 *2982%71%202
2018 *5749%86%50
2019 *5269%80%35
2020 *3375%83%172
2021 *7922%93%27
2022 *3995%98%302
2023 *7626%87%57
2024 *6245%86%394
2025 *9823%87%101
2026 so far6342%88%1,643

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

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.