Planning decisions in Leeds

How long Leeds takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 4,714 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.

50 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 50 from receipt
82%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 95% within thirteen
83%approved (UK 90%): 3,633 approved, 747 refused, 103 withdrawn
93 of 388UK rank for speed, down 43 places on last year; 356 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 53 days, 593 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 53 days, 634 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 48 days, 566 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 9 days, 260 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 38 days, 413 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 49 days, 575 decisionsMarApril 2026: 50 days, 524 decisionsAprMay 2026: 50 days, 524 decisionsMayJune 2026: 51 days, 605 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 52 days, 590 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 51 days, 552 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 53 days, 609 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 applications5573%81%1,83960 of 359
Tree works2297%90%85530 of 324
Discharge of conditions4875%85%64888 of 310
Lawful development certificates5095%81%643134 of 348
Amendments3482%78%24180 of 356
Listed building consent5560%84%13870 of 307
Householder applications29100%90%1282 of 200
Advertisement consent5081%82%11847 of 320
Prior approvals4496%72%82299 of 340

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5083%4,695
Planning committeeunder 1%32100%5

Where the register states how the decision was made. 14 decisions did not say.

Appeals

216 appeals against Leeds decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 29 for every 100 refusals; 24% were allowed. Every appeal in Leeds.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5566%97%165
2017 *5364%96%86
2018 *5167%90%62
2019 *4898%70%46
2020 *2589%93%27
2021 *5658%88%166
2022 *4996%47%77
2023 *4991%53%48
2024 *24100%86%39
2025 *5567%85%215
2026 so far5082%83%4,652

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

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.