Planning decisions in Peterborough

How long Peterborough takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,407 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); 53 from receipt
70%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 91% within thirteen
88%approved (UK 90%): 855 approved, 122 refused, 95 withdrawn
149 of 388UK rank for speed, down 74 places on last year; 288 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 54 days, 105 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 53 days, 120 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 45 days, 130 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 55 days, 109 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 77 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 130 decisionsMarApril 2026: 54 days, 96 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 137 decisionsMayJune 2026: 53 days, 139 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 52 days, 126 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 44 days, 105 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 48 days, 133 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
Householder applications5564%89%28796 of 200
Tree works38over 99%99%246149 of 324
Full applications6245%74%233212 of 359
Lawful development certificates4883%82%85106 of 348
Amendments *5650%96%77316 of 356
Prior approvals4893%81%77307 of 340
Listed building consent6042%88%75163 of 307
Advertisement consent5557%95%42176 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5289%1,067
Planning committeeunder 1%8575%4

Where the register states how the decision was made. 336 decisions did not say.

Appeals

34 appeals against Peterborough decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 28 for every 100 refusals; 12% were allowed. Every appeal in Peterborough.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5687%94%52
2017 *5575%98%55
2018 *5568%100%246
2019 *5748%95%65
2020 *5077%75%160
2021 *7541%69%40
2022 *5849%100%301
2023 *37100%97%230
2024 *2787%96%96
2025 *2287%100%58
2026 so far5366%88%1,052

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

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.