Planning decisions in Lambeth

How long Lambeth takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,569 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.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 56 from receipt
68%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 94% within thirteen
83%approved (UK 89%): 1,230 approved, 250 refused, 77 withdrawn
263 of 321UK rank for speed, down 87 places on last year; 278 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 63 days, 299 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 60 days, 356 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 260 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 57 days, 306 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 16 days, 20 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 36 days, 66 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 201 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 247 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 307 decisionsMayJune 2026: 59 days, 254 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 238 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 236 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)5653%78%524232 of 302
Discharge of conditions5572%89%312142 of 175
Tree works2894%91%26353 of 259
Lawful development certificates5672%81%176223 of 253
Amendments2981%86%89105 of 263
Advertisement consent5656%71%70154 of 190
Listed building consent6035%80%68150 of 200
Prior approvals *3894%50%3071 of 168
Other *3195%95%2132 of 41

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5683%1,535
Planning committeeunder 1%7980%6

Where the register states how the decision was made. 28 decisions did not say.

Appeals

159 appeals against Lambeth decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 64 for every 100 refusals; 31% 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 far5658%83%1,569

* 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 321 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.