Planning decisions in Lambeth

How long Lambeth takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,275 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); 56 from receipt
62%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 90% within thirteen
83%approved (UK 90%): 2,579 approved, 521 refused, 170 withdrawn
286 of 388UK rank for speed, down 90 places on last year; 354 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 315 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 235 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 280 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 58 days, 260 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 260 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 292 decisionsMarApril 2026: 57 days, 290 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 323 decisionsMayJune 2026: 62 days, 269 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 264 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 242 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 64 days, 245 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 applications5651%80%1,283163 of 359
Discharge of conditions5565%88%568193 of 310
Tree works2791%91%46849 of 324
Lawful development certificates5670%85%362287 of 348
Amendments3274%87%16871 of 356
Advertisement consent5750%73%161254 of 320
Listed building consent6334%80%156181 of 307
Prior approvals4086%68%73232 of 340
Section 106 and planning obligations *7140%85%2216 of 29

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5683%3,191
Planning committeeunder 1%8893%14

Where the register states how the decision was made. 70 decisions did not say.

Appeals

180 appeals against Lambeth decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 35 for every 100 refusals; 32% were allowed. Every appeal in Lambeth.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5748%97%107
2017 *5276%4%76
2018 *5596%14%114
2019 *4286%100%363
2020 *5294%35%33
2021 *7329%84%88
2022 *15822%98%47
2023 *8122%65%111
2024 *7427%100%28
2025 *7825%82%171
2026 so far5750%83%2,445

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

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.