Planning decisions in Harrogate

How long Harrogate takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,184 decisions it made in the twelve months to August 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.

51 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 54 from receipt
79%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 95% within thirteen
90%approved (UK 89%): 840 approved, 90 refused, 41 withdrawn
128 of 321UK rank for speed, down 56 places on last year; 175 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 70 days, 198 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 49 days, 289 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 49 days, 252 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 49 days, 267 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 8 days, 25 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 32 days, 79 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 51 days, 171 decisionsMarApril 2026: 54 days, 178 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 167 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 209 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 218 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 59 days, 137 decisionsAug
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 applications (including householder)5471%93%43497 of 302
Tree works2993%90%27259 of 259
Amendments3980%91%114149 of 263
Prior approvals5183%57%91137 of 168
Lawful development certificates5393%98%61150 of 253
Listed building consent6441%89%30166 of 200
Advertisement consent *5663%89%20149 of 190
Outline applications *4282%64%1211 of 39

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 far5462%90%1,184

* 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 321 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.