Planning decisions in Islington

How long Islington takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,176 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.

47 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 50 from receipt
73%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 90% within thirteen
93%approved (UK 89%): 1,061 approved, 82 refused, 18 withdrawn
67 of 321UK rank for speed, up 260 places on last year; 131 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 71 days, 220 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 64 days, 250 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 60 days, 227 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 55 days, 191 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 3 days, 25 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 6 days, 75 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 49 days, 164 decisionsMarApril 2026: 51 days, 190 decisionsAprMay 2026: 51 days, 172 decisionsMayJune 2026: 52 days, 177 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 54 days, 159 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 51 days, 214 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)5264%90%40358 of 302
Tree works697%99%3198 of 259
Listed building consent5457%95%12453 of 200
Discharge of conditions5064%99%90101 of 175
Advertisement consent5068%84%7649 of 190
Amendments5065%87%72212 of 263
Lawful development certificates5066%92%54125 of 253
Prior approvals *5086%73%24133 of 168

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5090%852
Planning committeeunder 1%120100%2

Where the register states how the decision was made. 322 decisions did not say.

Appeals

117 appeals against Islington decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 143 for every 100 refusals; 26% were allowed. Every appeal in Islington.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *4382%99%281
2017 *5098%17%106
2018 *5590%5%100
2019 *2197%99%571
2020 *6147%88%81
2021 *5573%69%151
2022 *7639%87%151
2023 *6146%86%124
2024 *2366%98%206
2025 *1684%99%159
2026 so far5071%93%1,176

* 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 Islington's planning register. Ranks are among the 321 published councils. See planning applications in Islington, appeals, or get alerts for Islington.

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.