Planning decisions in Sevenoaks

How long Sevenoaks takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,531 decisions it made in the twelve months to August 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 52); 58 from receipt
79%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 94% within thirteen
89%approved (UK 89%): 1,284 approved, 166 refused, 19 withdrawn
157 of 321UK rank for speed, down 11 places on last year; 202 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 62 days, 97 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 47 days, 158 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 52 days, 198 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 54 days, 249 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 13 days, 11 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 21 days, 98 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 51 days, 222 decisionsMarApril 2026: 57 days, 230 decisionsAprMay 2026: 62 days, 225 decisionsMayJune 2026: 76 days, 215 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 66 days, 274 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 67 days, 256 decisionsAug
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (52 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Discharge of conditions5371%92%446121 of 175
Full applications (including householder)5668%85%417178 of 302
Tree works13100%98%34513 of 259
Lawful development certificates5195%72%100132 of 253
Amendments5678%97%77241 of 263
Listed building consent5654%84%59116 of 200
Prior approvals *55100%67%21156 of 168
Outline applications *3485%45%201 of 39
Other *17100%100%1112 of 41

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5289%1,486
Planning committee1%9278%9

Where the register states how the decision was made. 36 decisions did not say.

Appeals

50 appeals against Sevenoaks decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 30 for every 100 refusals; 12% were allowed. Every appeal in Sevenoaks.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6919%81%122
2017 *768%92%41
2018 *6430%89%37
2019 *2296%82%51
2020 *5568%89%217
2021 *5565%78%346
2022 *5568%74%192
2023 *5572%80%176
2024 *2598%68%41
2025 *7818%79%68
2026 so far5849%89%1,531

* 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 Sevenoaks's planning register. Ranks are among the 321 published councils. See planning applications in Sevenoaks, appeals, or get alerts for Sevenoaks.

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.