Planning decisions in Rotherham

How long Rotherham takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,365 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); 52 from receipt
70%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 89% within thirteen
89%approved (UK 90%): 1,102 approved, 133 refused, 89 withdrawn
109 of 388UK rank for speed, up 45 places on last year; 247 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 50 days, 117 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 51 days, 102 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 55 days, 78 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 53 days, 107 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 78 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 53 days, 124 decisionsMarApril 2026: 55 days, 158 decisionsAprMay 2026: 52 days, 131 decisionsMayJune 2026: 45 days, 94 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 133 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 52 days, 108 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 50 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
Discharge of conditions4766%98%18083 of 310
Lawful development certificates4392%77%6870 of 348
Tree works4284%94%68212 of 324
Prior approvals3298%87%58123 of 340
Amendments2091%93%556 of 356
Advertisement consent5275%91%3478 of 320
Listed building consent *5950%94%16151 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%5089%1,341
Planning committee2%11095%22

Where the register states how the decision was made. 2 decisions did not say.

Appeals

35 appeals against Rotherham decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 26 for every 100 refusals; 23% were allowed. Every appeal in Rotherham.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5656%93%120
2017 *6736%88%25
2018 *10111%91%47
2019 *939%100%52
2020 *4286%98%136
2021 *4873%95%41
2022 *4876%95%38
2023 *6944%96%25
2024 *1837%95%65
2025 *4195%100%40
2026 so far5359%90%1,068

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Rotherham's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Rotherham, appeals, or get alerts for Rotherham.

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.