Planning decisions in Somerset
How long Somerset takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,536 decisions it made in the twelve months to August 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 52)
63%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 81% within thirteen
91%approved (UK 89%): 2,233 approved, 215 refused, 88 withdrawn
12 of 339UK rank for speed, up 28 places on last year; 167 of 339 for approvals
By year
| Year decided | Median days | Within 8 weeks | Approved | Decisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 * | 56 | 50% | 98% | 659 |
| 2017 * | 24 | 91% | 97% | 174 |
| 2018 * | 69 | 35% | 98% | 642 |
| 2019 * | 56 | 52% | 96% | 169 |
| 2020 * | 11 | 98% | 90% | 54 |
| 2021 * | 26 | 94% | 88% | 52 |
| 2022 * | 1 | 98% | 98% | 85 |
| 2023 * | 51 | 65% | 81% | 468 |
| 2024 * | 56 | 55% | 95% | 97 |
| 2025 * | 13 | 99% | 100% | 70 |
* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.
Built nightly from Somerset's planning register. Ranks are among the 339 published councils. See planning applications in Somerset, appeals, or get alerts for Somerset.
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 Withdrawn and undecided applications are not timed.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.