Planning decisions in Slough

How long Slough takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,131 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.

55 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 56 from receipt
57%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 84% within thirteen
81%approved (UK 90%): 862 approved, 202 refused, 56 withdrawn
253 of 388UK rank for speed, down 73 places on last year; 366 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 70 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 55 days, 73 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 55 days, 88 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 94 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 61 days, 82 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 105 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 102 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 115 decisionsMayJune 2026: 54 days, 114 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 103 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 90 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 95 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 applications5748%79%521172 of 359
Prior approvals3597%78%210155 of 340
Lawful development certificates5560%76%185255 of 348
Discharge of conditions7430%93%104292 of 310
Amendments6147%96%54330 of 356
Advertisement consent *5652%81%22245 of 320
Tree works *5452%95%21286 of 324

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5582%851
Planning committeeunder 1%195100%2

Where the register states how the decision was made. 278 decisions did not say.

Appeals

90 appeals against Slough decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 45 for every 100 refusals; 28% were allowed. Every appeal in Slough.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6325%98%45
2017 *7128%100%141
2018 *5659%93%46
2019 *6143%96%31
2020 *7526%97%32
2021 *1988%88%49
2022 *5750%67%50
2023 *6442%97%31
2024 *7532%100%145
2025 *5747%74%50
2026 so far5655%83%900

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

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.