Planning decisions in Scarborough

How long Scarborough takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 555 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); 90 from receipt
51%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 79% within thirteen
87%approved (UK 90%): 456 approved, 70 refused, 12 withdrawn
323 of 388UK rank for speed, up 9 places on last year; 305 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 106 days, 84 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 25 days, 1 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 42 days, 11 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 87 days, 31 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 105 days, 37 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 101 days, 71 decisionsMarApril 2026: 90 days, 57 decisionsAprMay 2026: 86 days, 66 decisionsMayJune 2026: 92 days, 73 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 80 days, 102 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 88 days, 44 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 84 days, 51 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 applications6342%86%286224 of 359
Tree works3794%94%80140 of 324
Discharge of conditions6443%100%47270 of 310
Listed building consent8629%74%42273 of 307
Amendments6046%97%41329 of 356
Prior approvals3993%81%27217 of 340
Advertisement consent *7433%83%12300 of 320
Lawful development certificates *5745%45%11323 of 348

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%3793%89
Planning committee2%109100%2

Where the register states how the decision was made. 464 decisions did not say.

Appeals

1 appeal against Scarborough decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 1 for every 100 refusals; 0% were allowed. Every appeal in Scarborough.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6143%92%52
2017 *5668%94%35
2018 *3285%100%33
2019 *5750%97%32
2020 *4667%86%43
2021 *786%100%33
2022 *5748%88%41
2023 *6446%84%40
2024 *5552%95%57
2025 *6942%90%31
2026 so far9024%87%532

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

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.