Planning decisions in Oxford

How long Oxford takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,583 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
68%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 86% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 90%): 2,255 approved, 193 refused, 103 withdrawn
152 of 388UK rank for speed, down 132 places on last year; 176 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 49 days, 229 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 195 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 49 days, 294 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 57 days, 180 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 63 days, 191 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 247 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 211 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 203 decisionsMayJune 2026: 59 days, 220 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 52 days, 226 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 197 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 190 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 applications5946%87%800192 of 359
Tree works27over 99%99%62846 of 324
Discharge of conditions5557%99%382203 of 310
Lawful development certificates5575%79%242244 of 348
Prior approvals1097%87%1577 of 340
Amendments5069%94%149214 of 356
Listed building consent6141%98%133167 of 307
Advertisement consent5657%85%81227 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5292%2,566
Planning committee1%15692%14

Where the register states how the decision was made. 3 decisions did not say.

Appeals

48 appeals against Oxford decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 25 for every 100 refusals; 27% were allowed. Every appeal in Oxford.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6525%94%58
2017 *494%100%35
2018 *10016%100%27
2019 *297%100%39
2020 *3887%100%32
2021 *7022%89%59
2022 *886%97%30
2023 *8015%82%65
2024 *4100%100%31
2025 *8100%99%144
2026 so far5653%92%1,865

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

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.