Planning decisions in Merton

How long Merton takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,073 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.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 57 from receipt
53%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 80% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 90%): 2,669 approved, 218 refused, 149 withdrawn
318 of 388UK rank for speed, down 161 places on last year; 164 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 51 days, 297 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 53 days, 259 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 49 days, 347 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 53 days, 279 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 59 days, 119 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 204 decisionsMarApril 2026: 69 days, 200 decisionsAprMay 2026: 83 days, 270 decisionsMayJune 2026: 75 days, 299 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 59 days, 224 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 65 days, 268 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 307 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
Tree works4972%99%700255 of 324
Full applications6838%90%643246 of 359
Discharge of conditions6245%97%410258 of 310
Lawful development certificates5172%92%388162 of 348
Householder applications8023%93%360194 of 200
Prior approvals3588%75%252163 of 340
Amendments5847%89%193323 of 356
Advertisement consent6637%92%51291 of 320
Listed building consent11314%90%33299 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5593%2,644
Planning committeeunder 1%188100%5

Where the register states how the decision was made. 424 decisions did not say.

Appeals

34 appeals against Merton decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 16 for every 100 refusals; 24% were allowed. Every appeal in Merton.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *8220%88%26
2017 *5398%70%47
2018 *9211%93%29
2019 *3781%97%86
2020 *7228%88%43
2021 *10613%95%43
2022 *4193%97%425
2023 *7834%87%47
2024 *6446%95%37
2025 *4197%99%663
2026 so far6342%92%2,170

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

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.