Planning decisions in Liverpool

How long Liverpool takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,208 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.

55 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 62 from receipt
59%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 75% within thirteen
82%approved (UK 90%): 2,439 approved, 543 refused, 134 withdrawn
250 of 388UK rank for speed, down 81 places on last year; 362 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 65 days, 240 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 57 days, 263 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 55 days, 275 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 61 days, 275 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 64 days, 244 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 57 days, 276 decisionsMarApril 2026: 61 days, 329 decisionsAprMay 2026: 60 days, 243 decisionsMayJune 2026: 69 days, 298 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 65 days, 298 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 67 days, 232 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 61 days, 235 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 applications7640%77%768294 of 359
Householder applications5561%91%748100 of 200
Lawful development certificates5369%61%484196 of 348
Discharge of conditions6346%91%351264 of 310
Tree works3592%84%268108 of 324
Listed building consent5650%95%177126 of 307
Advertisement consent5566%85%172167 of 320
Prior approvals3882%75%108204 of 340
Amendments3666%89%89103 of 356

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%5581%2,965
Planning committee2%45296%54

Where the register states how the decision was made. 189 decisions did not say.

Appeals

162 appeals against Liverpool decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 30 for every 100 refusals; 39% were allowed. Every appeal in Liverpool.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *8318%98%149
2017 *4184%96%29
2018 *3576%90%286
2019 *5094%31%36
2020 *7728%68%78
2021 *8032%52%73
2022 *6646%50%56
2023 *4958%87%54
20255750%81%1,100
2026 so far6342%82%2,430

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

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.