Planning decisions in Plymouth

How long Plymouth takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,476 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.

50 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 55 from receipt
77%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 91% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 90%): 1,217 approved, 66 refused, 54 withdrawn
101 of 388UK rank for speed, down 5 places on last year; 86 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 53 days, 117 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 51 days, 98 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 53 days, 114 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 57 days, 105 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 55 days, 103 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 139 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 125 decisionsAprMay 2026: 58 days, 120 decisionsMayJune 2026: 64 days, 132 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 156 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 50 days, 137 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 130 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 applications5472%95%54144 of 359
Tree works4188%93%277190 of 324
Lawful development certificates4792%94%12793 of 348
Discharge of conditions4969%97%12297 of 310
Amendments5069%96%96213 of 356
Listed building consent5655%99%80109 of 307
Advertisement consent5179%93%4559 of 320
Prior approvals *4896%100%27310 of 340
Householder applications *3994%94%186 of 200

Appeals

14 appeals against Plymouth decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 21 for every 100 refusals; 21% were allowed. Every appeal in Plymouth.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5844%94%79
2017 *5655%98%165
2018 *5362%99%69
2019 *6638%99%115
2020 *6138%97%34
2021 *5750%100%48
2022 *6448%96%203
2023 *4977%83%271
2024 *5070%94%230
2025 *6048%95%86
2026 so far5653%95%1,147

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

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.