Planning decisions in Medway

How long Medway takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,503 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.

53 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 55 from receipt
83%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 95% within thirteen
90%approved (UK 90%): 1,059 approved, 117 refused, 89 withdrawn
162 of 388UK rank for speed, down 67 places on last year; 227 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 21 days, 19 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 43 days, 55 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 50 days, 115 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 55 days, 137 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 55 days, 149 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 53 days, 136 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 157 decisionsAprMay 2026: 52 days, 140 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 137 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 182 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 138 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 58 days, 138 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 applications5491%96%39762 of 200
Full applications5661%82%252113 of 359
Lawful development certificates3692%88%22441 of 348
Tree works4870%90%158253 of 324
Amendments2889%91%8934 of 356
Prior approvals33100%89%66132 of 340
Listed building consent5675%100%4474 of 307
Advertisement consent5594%97%32148 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%5391%1,398
Planning committee3%9058%36

Where the register states how the decision was made. 69 decisions did not say.

Appeals

42 appeals against Medway decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 36 for every 100 refusals; 19% were allowed. Every appeal in Medway.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6328%92%41
2017 *5653%96%71
2018 *2878%90%97
2019 *2879%79%82
2020 *6731%95%58
2021 *5656%94%34
2022 *5659%97%36
2023 *8016%95%48
2024 *6141%95%53
2025 *6542%94%36
2026 so far5563%91%1,314

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

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.