Planning decisions in Gwynedd

How long Gwynedd takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 656 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.

93 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 113 from receipt
30%decided within eight weeks (UK 71%), 49% within thirteen
88%approved (UK 90%): 552 approved, 77 refused, 11 withdrawn
362 of 364UK rank for speed, down 350 places on last year; 261 of 364 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 191 days, 55 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 249 days, 42 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 275 days, 57 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 291 days, 43 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 279 days, 52 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 85 decisionsMarApril 2026: 79 days, 50 decisionsAprMay 2026: 76 days, 49 decisionsMayJune 2026: 106 days, 65 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 142 days, 47 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 107 days, 30 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 97 days, 81 decisionsSept
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 applications16214%84%179345 of 347
Householder applications7831%93%164189 of 195
Discharge of conditions5352%100%70185 of 285
Amendments5656%89%53293 of 332
Lawful development certificates *9926%62%27329 of 329
Listed building consent *2240%100%27254 of 254
Tree works *6633%80%20303 of 311

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers95%8889%509
Planning committee5%29069%26

Where the register states how the decision was made. 121 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *3278%88%62
2017 *4770%89%57
2018 *4263%88%44
2019 *869%100%35
2020 *4663%91%78
2021 *1070%100%33
2022 *4851%85%41
2023 *3467%86%37
20251982%89%228
2026 so far9928%88%502

* 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 Gwynedd's planning register. Ranks are among the 364 published councils. See planning applications in Gwynedd, or get alerts for Gwynedd.

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.