Planning decisions in Reading

How long Reading takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,317 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.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 59 from receipt
56%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 80% within thirteen
88%approved (UK 90%): 1,027 approved, 145 refused, 128 withdrawn
303 of 388UK rank for speed, down 276 places on last year; 287 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 114 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 111 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 117 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 69 days, 96 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 62 days, 80 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 62 days, 112 decisionsMarApril 2026: 68 days, 109 decisionsAprMay 2026: 57 days, 121 decisionsMayJune 2026: 57 days, 107 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 63 days, 141 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 98 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 69 days, 111 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 applications6142%93%302167 of 200
Full applications6939%71%226251 of 359
Tree works3492%98%19794 of 324
Discharge of conditions5559%94%158200 of 310
Lawful development certificates6142%95%129331 of 348
Amendments4571%83%93159 of 356
Prior approvals4280%83%86280 of 340
Listed building consent6845%93%69209 of 307
Advertisement consent5654%60%54234 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5688%1,305
Planning committee1%5383%12

Where the register states how the decision was made.

Appeals

55 appeals against Reading decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 38 for every 100 refusals; 29% were allowed. Every appeal in Reading.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6230%92%182
2017 *6439%85%120
2018 *2190%94%271
2019 *10414%100%51
2020 *6944%69%34
2021 *5680%47%34
2022 *12615%96%108
2023 *1207%93%119
2024 *8619%100%30
2025 *0100%96%26
2026 so far6243%89%975

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

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.