Planning decisions in Lancaster

How long Lancaster takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,318 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); 52 from receipt
78%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 90% within thirteen
86%approved (UK 90%): 981 approved, 161 refused, 44 withdrawn
70 of 388UK rank for speed, down 17 places on last year; 319 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 51 days, 95 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 46 days, 97 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 50 days, 87 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 55 days, 122 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 46 days, 121 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 53 days, 101 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 127 decisionsAprMay 2026: 55 days, 97 decisionsMayJune 2026: 50 days, 115 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 54 days, 119 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 47 days, 115 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 54 days, 122 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 applications5666%85%42797 of 359
Tree works31100%99%23670 of 324
Discharge of conditions5074%88%184114 of 310
Lawful development certificates4295%79%13861 of 348
Amendments5370%81%87244 of 356
Listed building consent5750%94%87128 of 307
Prior approvals2896%69%8185 of 340
Advertisement consent *5477%77%22132 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%5383%1,037
Planning committee3%7789%35

Where the register states how the decision was made. 246 decisions did not say.

Appeals

48 appeals against Lancaster decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 30 for every 100 refusals; 17% were allowed. Every appeal in Lancaster.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5749%95%45
2017 *4962%98%49
2018 *5750%82%38
2019 *26100%71%28
2020 *6348%89%63
2021 *4353%80%77
2022 *23100%84%29
2023 *2888%54%28
2024 *27100%63%27
2025 *24100%60%25
2026 so far5362%85%1,039

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

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.