Planning decisions in Shropshire

How long Shropshire takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,968 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.

47 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 47 from receipt
77%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 94% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 90%): 2,544 approved, 227 refused, 93 withdrawn
49 of 388UK rank for speed, down 39 places on last year; 188 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 76 days, 7 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 21 days, 33 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 36 days, 163 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 16 days, 142 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 36 days, 232 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 43 days, 390 decisionsMarApril 2026: 49 days, 342 decisionsAprMay 2026: 45 days, 335 decisionsMayJune 2026: 47 days, 346 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 45 days, 416 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 51 days, 316 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 51 days, 419 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 applications5368%90%99332 of 359
Discharge of conditions3679%95%48724 of 310
Tree works4279%99%462215 of 324
Amendments2886%94%24735 of 356
Prior approvals2395%85%21036 of 340
Listed building consent5462%97%16843 of 307
Lawful development certificates5185%88%166154 of 348
Other3296%100%10310 of 35
Outline applications *4971%38%5418 of 110
Advertisement consent5183%89%3667 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%4792%2,801
Planning committee1%4676%17

Where the register states how the decision was made. 150 decisions did not say.

Appeals

111 appeals against Shropshire decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 49 for every 100 refusals; 23% were allowed. Every appeal in Shropshire.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5276%97%72
2017 *5085%96%30
2018 *5562%95%66
2019 *3597%97%661
2020 *2589%95%141
2021 *5261%76%350
2022 *5750%74%81
2023 *5555%96%76
2024 *5184%90%32
2025 *4290%97%179
2026 so far4777%92%2,938

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

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.