Planning decisions in Hackney

How long Hackney takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,529 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); 61 from receipt
57%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 76% within thirteen
86%approved (UK 90%): 2,096 approved, 330 refused, 103 withdrawn
300 of 388UK rank for speed, down 47 places on last year; 311 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 60 days, 202 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 60 days, 206 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 212 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 64 days, 222 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 67 days, 179 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 214 decisionsMarApril 2026: 57 days, 227 decisionsAprMay 2026: 62 days, 189 decisionsMayJune 2026: 66 days, 215 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 57 days, 204 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 64 days, 229 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 72 days, 230 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 applications6641%79%717238 of 359
Householder applications5653%85%427145 of 200
Tree works2698%100%37041 of 324
Discharge of conditions6442%97%368271 of 310
Lawful development certificates5674%80%231281 of 348
Amendments4865%86%150191 of 356
Advertisement consent6344%76%112283 of 320
Listed building consent9020%87%84280 of 307
Prior approvals5378%74%61329 of 340

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5686%2,489
Planning committee1%36386%23

Where the register states how the decision was made. 17 decisions did not say.

Appeals

98 appeals against Hackney decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 30 for every 100 refusals; 37% were allowed. Every appeal in Hackney.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6643%86%72
2017 *5190%32%76
2018 *5554%3%69
2019 *4480%over 99%289
2020 *4961%100%253
2021 *6042%99%385
2022 *8628%99%312
2023 *7333%88%53
20255748%88%924
2026 so far6242%86%1,909

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

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.