Planning decisions in Sheffield

How long Sheffield takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,022 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.

54 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 56 from receipt
70%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 89% within thirteen
89%approved (UK 90%): 2,166 approved, 274 refused, 80 withdrawn
191 of 388UK rank for speed, down 58 places on last year; 262 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 54 days, 292 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 52 days, 207 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 53 days, 262 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 59 days, 209 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 59 days, 211 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 235 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 254 decisionsAprMay 2026: 57 days, 252 decisionsMayJune 2026: 55 days, 288 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 312 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 263 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 58 days, 237 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 applications5657%89%1,360132 of 359
Tree works2799%96%44648 of 324
Amendments5067%90%217216 of 356
Lawful development certificates5286%81%174173 of 348
Prior approvals3993%80%148216 of 340
Advertisement consent5575%80%112155 of 320
Listed building consent5656%95%82107 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5489%3,000
Planning committeeunder 1%15482%11

Where the register states how the decision was made. 11 decisions did not say.

Appeals

95 appeals against Sheffield decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 35 for every 100 refusals; 19% were allowed. Every appeal in Sheffield.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6138%99%71
2017 *4197%9%97
2018 *53100%84%46
2019 *5378%46%54
2020 *4084%98%420
2021 *7925%97%71
2022 *4373%80%240
2023 *5294%43%48
2024 *5563%66%116
2025 *6438%92%50
2026 so far5653%89%2,261

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

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.