Planning decisions in Malvern Hills

How long Malvern Hills takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,366 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); 56 from receipt
74%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 86% within thirteen
87%approved (UK 90%): 1,119 approved, 173 refused, 53 withdrawn
107 of 388UK rank for speed, down 72 places on last year; 308 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 123 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 51 days, 125 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 50 days, 86 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 116 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 98 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 54 days, 119 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 101 decisionsAprMay 2026: 58 days, 108 decisionsMayJune 2026: 55 days, 126 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 135 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 106 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 123 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
Householder applications5585%89%30478 of 200
Tree works18100%91%24219 of 324
Discharge of conditions5650%97%219235 of 310
Full applications5949%81%191189 of 359
Prior approvals3892%80%92200 of 340
Lawful development certificates5391%78%87188 of 348
Listed building consent6443%88%85185 of 307
Amendments5267%89%82239 of 356
Outline applications3478%35%392 of 110

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5087%1,348
Planning committee1%12156%16

Where the register states how the decision was made. 2 decisions did not say.

Appeals

69 appeals against Malvern Hills decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 40 for every 100 refusals; 35% were allowed. Every appeal in Malvern Hills.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *10719%96%58
2017 *3398%94%260
2018 *1599%91%241
2019 *3482%77%76
2020 *7036%70%50
2021 *6744%68%61
2022 *8723%59%66
2023 *7832%68%76
2024 *5257%100%116
2025 *5652%77%94
2026 so far5653%87%1,032

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Malvern Hills's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Malvern Hills, appeals, or get alerts for Malvern Hills.

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.