Planning decisions in Mole Valley

How long Mole Valley takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 649 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.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 80 from receipt
59%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 87% within thirteen
81%approved (UK 89%): 484 approved, 113 refused, 16 withdrawn
275 of 322UK rank for speed, down 41 places on last year; 289 of 322 for approvals
05691 September 2025: 63 days, 161 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 69 days, 180 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 70 days, 163 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 76 days, 133 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 73 days, 2 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 59 days, 11 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 69 days, 48 decisionsMarApril 2026: 70 days, 109 decisionsAprMay 2026: 90 days, 107 decisionsMayJune 2026: 79 days, 121 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 81 days, 147 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 102 days, 104 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
Householder applications5652%81%204130 of 158
Tree works4563%94%125193 of 261
Discharge of conditions4570%92%8568 of 178
Lawful development certificates5580%73%54195 of 256
Amendments5259%65%39221 of 271
Prior approvals *5293%29%28145 of 174
Listed building consent *5950%100%24139 of 200
Other *2189%95%2120 of 40

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%5681%633
Planning committee2%69100%16

Where the register states how the decision was made.

Appeals

100 appeals against Mole Valley decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 88 for every 100 refusals; 31% were allowed. Every appeal in Mole Valley.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5575%100%43
2017 *5663%90%33
2018 *2681%79%53
2019 *5938%98%52
2020 *5652%91%53
2021 *2995%79%45
2022 *7423%93%66
2023 *3673%69%100
2024 *2894%74%35
2025 *899%72%32
2026 so far8028%81%649

* 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 Mole Valley's planning register. Ranks are among the 322 published councils. See planning applications in Mole Valley, appeals, or get alerts for Mole Valley.

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.