Planning decisions in Islington

How long Islington takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,555 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.

49 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 54 from receipt
66%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 85% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 90%): 2,300 approved, 209 refused, 45 withdrawn
88 of 388UK rank for speed, up 79 places on last year; 193 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 51 days, 206 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 51 days, 201 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 47 days, 168 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 55 days, 214 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 55 days, 229 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 53 days, 223 decisionsMarApril 2026: 54 days, 220 decisionsAprMay 2026: 54 days, 210 decisionsMayJune 2026: 55 days, 213 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 201 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 53 days, 232 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 238 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 applications5361%87%63438 of 359
Tree works598%99%5236 of 324
Householder applications5651%93%359151 of 200
Listed building consent5749%95%308133 of 307
Discharge of conditions5454%98%238178 of 310
Advertisement consent5166%78%15373 of 320
Amendments5060%91%146218 of 356
Lawful development certificates4965%87%137113 of 348
Prior approvals5186%73%56323 of 340

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5189%1,406
Planning committeeunder 1%120100%2

Where the register states how the decision was made. 1,147 decisions did not say.

Appeals

142 appeals against Islington decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 68 for every 100 refusals; 25% 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 far5557%91%1,980

* 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 388 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.