Planning decisions in Manchester

How long Manchester takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,654 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); 59 from receipt
67%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 91% within thirteen
88%approved (UK 90%): 2,952 approved, 400 refused, 136 withdrawn
233 of 388UK rank for speed, down 68 places on last year; 274 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 316 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 318 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 333 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 61 days, 326 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 59 days, 274 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 302 decisionsMarApril 2026: 57 days, 318 decisionsAprMay 2026: 61 days, 249 decisionsMayJune 2026: 64 days, 249 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 61 days, 342 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 72 days, 308 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 65 days, 319 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
Discharge of conditions5260%90%1,149147 of 310
Householder applications5566%96%66491 of 200
Full applications5659%82%632121 of 359
Amendments4674%88%290170 of 356
Lawful development certificates5672%66%227285 of 348
Advertisement consent5483%81%200128 of 320
Tree works3684%99%187124 of 324
Listed building consent5576%95%18155 of 307
Prior approvals4296%83%104267 of 340

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5588%3,629
Planning committee1%134100%24

Where the register states how the decision was made. 1 decisions did not say.

Appeals

116 appeals against Manchester decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 29 for every 100 refusals; 38% were allowed. Every appeal in Manchester.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5657%97%150
2017 *5099%13%91
2018 *4577%98%217
2019 *5074%100%59
2020 *5567%100%36
2021 *4268%98%217
2022 *4858%97%241
2023 *4663%95%195
2024 *5269%96%56
2025 *3780%97%183
2026 so far6145%89%2,687

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

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.