Planning decisions in Nottingham

How long Nottingham takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,320 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.

52 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 56 from receipt
70%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 90% within thirteen
94%approved (UK 90%): 1,220 approved, 74 refused, 19 withdrawn
150 of 388UK rank for speed, up 110 places on last year; 107 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 58 days, 97 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 55 days, 19 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 41 days, 79 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 55 days, 113 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 128 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 123 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 148 decisionsAprMay 2026: 59 days, 108 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 143 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 182 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 59 days, 142 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 65 days, 135 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
Full applications5652%90%513152 of 359
Tree works3794%98%294141 of 324
Lawful development certificates4972%96%194126 of 348
Discharge of conditions5558%100%100201 of 310
Amendments4275%97%64132 of 356
Advertisement consent5481%96%55119 of 320
Prior approvals4192%98%52235 of 340
Listed building consent5574%98%4358 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5394%1,217
Planning committeeunder 1%11675%4

Where the register states how the decision was made. 99 decisions did not say.

Appeals

49 appeals against Nottingham decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 66 for every 100 refusals; 45% were allowed. Every appeal in Nottingham.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5662%100%95
2017 *5097%30%32
2018 *3168%94%101
2019 *3380%99%279
2020 *7242%89%48
2021 *7427%100%83
2022 *9919%100%65
2023 *5749%96%69
2024 *7037%99%84
2025 *6145%92%148
2026 so far5651%94%1,222

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

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.