Planning decisions in Hillingdon

How long Hillingdon takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,932 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); 58 from receipt
60%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 89% within thirteen
88%approved (UK 90%): 2,479 approved, 335 refused, 95 withdrawn
290 of 388UK rank for speed, down 71 places on last year; 273 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 231 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 219 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 57 days, 196 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 63 days, 220 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 62 days, 229 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 58 days, 245 decisionsMarApril 2026: 58 days, 291 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 246 decisionsMayJune 2026: 57 days, 255 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 58 days, 325 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 234 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 59 days, 241 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
Lawful development certificates4978%93%513124 of 348
Discharge of conditions5456%95%281176 of 310
Amendments5267%85%141238 of 356
Tree works5650%82%112304 of 324
Advertisement consent5653%85%40244 of 320
Prior approvals *5555%95%21334 of 340

Appeals

141 appeals against Hillingdon decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 42 for every 100 refusals; 28% were allowed. Every appeal in Hillingdon.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5847%76%3,381
2017 *1999%86%205
2018 *2684%86%174
2019 *6832%71%64
2020 *7821%79%28
2021 *5745%83%33
2022 *4965%68%149
2023 *4466%70%175
2024 *5749%64%141
2025 *5839%80%177
2026 so far5845%88%2,286

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

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.