Planning decisions in Harrogate

How long Harrogate takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,841 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.

50 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 54 from receipt
77%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 93% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 90%): 1,599 approved, 148 refused, 68 withdrawn
98 of 388UK rank for speed, down 26 places on last year; 194 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 49 days, 289 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 22 days, 3 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 15 days, 38 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 45 days, 138 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 55 days, 169 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 52 days, 219 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 214 decisionsAprMay 2026: 55 days, 180 decisionsMayJune 2026: 55 days, 220 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 53 days, 249 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 57 days, 180 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 55 days, 231 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 applications5566%94%70966 of 359
Tree works3093%88%41368 of 324
Discharge of conditions4677%99%21167 of 310
Amendments4278%91%174130 of 356
Prior approvals3691%84%132175 of 340
Lawful development certificates5192%93%96149 of 348
Listed building consent6435%84%47195 of 307
Advertisement consent *5571%92%25161 of 320
Outline applications *4478%72%2015 of 110

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%2193%297
Planning committee1%910%2

Where the register states how the decision was made. 1,542 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5847%96%55
2017 *6242%94%72
2018 *7031%96%124
2019 *5663%78%56
2020 *8913%96%101
2021 *5651%90%197
2022 *5560%92%53
2023 *2385%91%122
2024 *2783%89%170
2025 *4567%91%170
2026 so far5459%91%1,800

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

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.