How long Malvern Hills takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 44 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.
55 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 56 from receipt
68%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 76% within thirteen
219 of 321UK rank for speed, down 1 place on last year; 318 of 321 for approvals
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
Kind
Median days
Within 8 weeks
Approved
Decisions
UK rank
Full applications (including householder) *
54
71%
71%
21
95 of 302
Delegated or committee
Route
Share
Median days
Approved
Decisions
Delegated to officers
98%
54
73%
43
Planning committee
2%
169
100%
1
Where the register states how the decision was made.
Appeals
67 appeals against Malvern Hills decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 744 for every 100 refusals; 37% were allowed. Every appeal in Malvern Hills.
By year
Year decided
Median days
Within 8 weeks
Approved
Decisions
2016 *
107
19%
96%
58
2017 *
33
98%
94%
260
2018 *
15
99%
91%
241
2019 *
34
82%
77%
76
2020 *
70
36%
70%
50
2021 *
67
44%
68%
61
2022 *
87
23%
59%
66
2023 *
78
32%
68%
76
2024 *
52
57%
100%
116
2025 *
56
52%
77%
94
2026 so far
56
50%
74%
44
* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.
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 Withdrawn and undecided applications are not timed.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.