Planning decisions in Solihull

How long Solihull takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,807 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.

52 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 56 from receipt
60%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 80% within thirteen
90%approved (UK 90%): 1,574 approved, 183 refused, 34 withdrawn
160 of 388UK rank for speed, down 59 places on last year; 241 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 45 days, 140 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 45 days, 135 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 129 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 134 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 58 days, 117 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 57 days, 148 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 171 decisionsAprMay 2026: 60 days, 134 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 234 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 197 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 62 days, 128 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 58 days, 140 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 applications5065%93%70929 of 200
Tree works7441%94%231317 of 324
Full applications9621%90%177334 of 359
Prior approvals3894%77%152198 of 340
Lawful development certificates4481%74%15177 of 348
Discharge of conditions5554%99%145208 of 310
Amendments3770%89%136107 of 356
Advertisement consent5071%98%4250 of 320
Outline applications *9624%57%2391 of 110
Listed building consent *7620%100%16246 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%5290%1,736
Planning committee3%9584%45

Where the register states how the decision was made. 26 decisions did not say.

Appeals

52 appeals against Solihull decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 28 for every 100 refusals; 37% were allowed. Every appeal in Solihull.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5378%91%69
2017 *6042%96%27
2018 *5652%94%106
2019 *4376%78%237
2020 *5564%79%42
2021 *7220%98%50
2022 *6532%97%36
2023 *6939%92%210
2024 *6435%94%35
2025 *7835%95%246
2026 so far5750%88%1,403

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

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.