Planning decisions in Shepway

How long Shepway takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,383 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.

46 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 51 from receipt
92%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 96% within thirteen
86%approved (UK 90%): 1,141 approved, 187 refused, 48 withdrawn
37 of 388UK rank for speed, up 34 places on last year; 318 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 53 days, 134 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 49 days, 94 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 50 days, 135 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 102 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 50 days, 104 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 49 days, 103 decisionsMarApril 2026: 49 days, 110 decisionsAprMay 2026: 50 days, 114 decisionsMayJune 2026: 44 days, 108 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 49 days, 146 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 49 days, 101 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 54 days, 132 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 applications4897%86%31316 of 200
Full applications5286%78%26321 of 359
Discharge of conditions4483%99%21555 of 310
Tree works31over 99%93%21073 of 324
Lawful development certificates4496%77%11378 of 348
Amendments4186%83%110124 of 356
Listed building consent5193%79%6914 of 307
Prior approvals3798%81%54180 of 340
Advertisement consent *46100%77%1422 of 320

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5671%91%36
2017 *5671%98%63
2018 *4278%83%92
2019 *6840%76%90
2020 *5166%94%166
2021 *2878%79%103
2022 *3571%86%98
2023 *3072%86%90
2024 *5261%94%327
2025 *4688%83%41
2026 so far5167%87%1,020

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

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.