Planning decisions in Milton Keynes

How long Milton Keynes takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 973 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); 62 from receipt
70%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 90% within thirteen
84%approved (UK 89%): 742 approved, 141 refused, 28 withdrawn
229 of 321UK rank for speed, up 56 places on last year; 271 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 56 days, 160 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 55 days, 168 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 59 days, 164 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 53 days, 221 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 21 days, 6 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 40 days, 39 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 131 decisionsMarApril 2026: 58 days, 163 decisionsAprMay 2026: 58 days, 181 decisionsMayJune 2026: 72 days, 186 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 70 days, 136 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 69 days, 131 decisionsAug
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

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications (including householder)5658%86%386211 of 302
Discharge of conditions5578%76%182141 of 175
Lawful development certificates5287%72%90143 of 253
Tree works4285%92%88176 of 259
Prior approvals4479%92%75114 of 168
Amendments2880%86%5395 of 263
Listed building consent5670%97%3591 of 200
Advertisement consent5666%94%32146 of 190
Other *2389%79%2125 of 41

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5584%966
Planning committee1%9583%7

Where the register states how the decision was made.

Appeals

52 appeals against Milton Keynes decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 37 for every 100 refusals; 21% were allowed. Every appeal in Milton Keynes.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6234%96%122
2017 *3173%89%178
2018 *3990%99%157
2019 *4186%98%175
2020 *2796%88%148
2021 *5654%83%443
2022 *7323%94%119
2023 *5847%98%57
2024 *15100%100%27
2025 *994%100%32
2026 so far6243%84%973

* 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 Milton Keynes's planning register. Ranks are among the 321 published councils. See planning applications in Milton Keynes, appeals, or get alerts for Milton Keynes.

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.