Planning decisions in Harborough

How long Harborough takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,550 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.

55 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 57 from receipt
58%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 83% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 90%): 1,360 approved, 123 refused, 58 withdrawn
252 of 388UK rank for speed, down 128 places on last year; 191 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 55 days, 128 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 55 days, 121 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 143 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 100 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 70 days, 109 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 51 days, 136 decisionsMarApril 2026: 60 days, 115 decisionsAprMay 2026: 63 days, 133 decisionsMayJune 2026: 57 days, 149 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 152 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 58 days, 118 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 67 days, 146 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 applications6243%91%572217 of 359
Tree works3992%98%376168 of 324
Discharge of conditions6438%100%146272 of 310
Prior approvals3582%86%125166 of 340
Amendments5652%94%108310 of 356
Listed building consent7320%95%79237 of 307
Lawful development certificates5272%79%61180 of 348
Outline applications5652%24%3038 of 110
Advertisement consent6232%89%29278 of 320
Reserved matters *1130%91%1229 of 44

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5592%1,366
Planning committee1%14974%19

Where the register states how the decision was made. 165 decisions did not say.

Appeals

32 appeals against Harborough decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 26 for every 100 refusals; 28% were allowed. Every appeal in Harborough.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5943%95%85
2017 *5750%96%30
2018 *5185%100%27
2019 *6345%76%32
2020 *6041%96%79
2021 *5846%88%29
2022 *6939%99%243
2023 *9927%94%33
2024 *5662%83%128
2025 *7018%94%38
2026 so far5847%92%1,158

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

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.