Planning decisions in Hart

How long Hart takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,814 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); 59 from receipt
65%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 84% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 90%): 1,304 approved, 109 refused, 47 withdrawn
237 of 388UK rank for speed, down 73 places on last year; 171 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 58 days, 138 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 61 days, 215 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 60 days, 187 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 77 days, 209 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 118 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 108 decisionsMarApril 2026: 58 days, 138 decisionsAprMay 2026: 59 days, 137 decisionsMayJune 2026: 59 days, 171 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 58 days, 132 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 57 days, 115 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 60 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
Tree works5662%96%543296 of 324
Householder applications5668%92%411118 of 200
Prior approvals2889%100%22696 of 340
Discharge of conditions5168%99%140131 of 310
Lawful development certificates5577%89%114242 of 348
Full applications6145%83%95209 of 359
Amendments5368%90%73252 of 356
Listed building consent7743%75%72248 of 307
Advertisement consent *53100%88%17100 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5592%1,803
Planning committee1%12990%10

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

Appeals

43 appeals against Hart decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 39 for every 100 refusals; 42% were allowed. Every appeal in Hart.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6627%94%58
2017 *1994%100%32
2018 *4957%96%242
2019 *7117%72%154
2020 *8524%77%99
2021 *8018%77%129
2022 *15100%99%291
2023 *24100%100%270
2024 *2299%100%256
2025 *5942%89%133
2026 so far5943%93%1,274

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

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.