Planning decisions in Luton

How long Luton takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 589 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); 73 from receipt
69%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 91% within thirteen
78%approved (UK 89%): 406 approved, 114 refused, 18 withdrawn
262 of 321UK rank for speed, up 48 places on last year; 306 of 321 for approvals
05691 September 2025: 83 days, 106 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 81 days, 119 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 75 days, 106 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 73 days, 107 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 16 days, 3 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 49 days, 16 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 70 days, 70 decisionsMarApril 2026: 71 days, 90 decisionsAprMay 2026: 76 days, 78 decisionsMayJune 2026: 73 days, 105 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 80 days, 118 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 70 days, 109 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)5665%70%351186 of 302
Discharge of conditions5657%94%88156 of 175
Lawful development certificates5491%82%78167 of 253
Amendments4081%81%29158 of 263
Advertisement consent *5685%100%14125 of 190
Tree works *4370%100%10181 of 259

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5678%521
Planning committeeunder 1%148100%1

Where the register states how the decision was made. 67 decisions did not say.

Appeals

69 appeals against Luton decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 61 for every 100 refusals; 19% were allowed. Every appeal in Luton.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6931%94%54
2017 *8412%94%68
2018 *8123%98%47
2019 *4767%89%286
2020 *5660%80%26
2021 *7528%89%46
2022 *5657%96%163
2023 *6147%77%93
2024 *8912%81%28
2025 *6937%75%90
2026 so far7330%78%589

* 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 Luton's planning register. Ranks are among the 321 published councils. See planning applications in Luton, appeals, or get alerts for Luton.

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.