Planning decisions in Newham

How long Newham takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,138 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.

54 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 54 from receipt
72%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 93% within thirteen
84%approved (UK 89%): 849 approved, 161 refused, 36 withdrawn
205 of 322UK rank for speed, down 141 places on last year; 270 of 322 for approvals
056 September 2025: 53 days, 69 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 52 days, 13 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 45 days, 45 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 41 days, 83 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 9 days, 13 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 28 days, 51 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 50 days, 176 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 168 decisionsAprMay 2026: 55 days, 183 decisionsMayJune 2026: 55 days, 192 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 190 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 164 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
Discharge of conditions5065%99%283102 of 178
Householder applications5566%85%20986 of 158
Full applications5667%68%208131 of 298
Lawful development certificates5484%76%201179 of 256
Prior approvals4191%72%10890 of 174
Advertisement consent5667%93%47143 of 192
Amendments3279%100%4086 of 271
Tree works4080%100%27149 of 261

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5581%889
Planning committeeunder 1%510%2

Where the register states how the decision was made. 247 decisions did not say.

Appeals

96 appeals against Newham decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 60 for every 100 refusals; 13% were allowed. Every appeal in Newham.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *54100%14%29
2017 *1398%88%70
2018 *5197%69%97
2019 *6844%92%29
2020 *2795%75%72
2021 *5477%100%48
2022 *5553%94%461
2023 *6541%91%50
2024 *4982%100%66
2025 *23100%97%44
2026 so far5472%84%1,137

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Newham's planning register. Ranks are among the 322 published councils. See planning applications in Newham, appeals, or get alerts for Newham.

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.