Planning decisions in South Cambridgeshire

How long South Cambridgeshire takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,176 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.

51 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 53 from receipt
77%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 91% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 90%): 2,687 approved, 146 refused, 206 withdrawn
118 of 388UK rank for speed, down 28 places on last year; 87 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 50 days, 271 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 54 days, 215 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 53 days, 307 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 55 days, 219 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 55 days, 250 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 51 days, 298 decisionsMarApril 2026: 51 days, 269 decisionsAprMay 2026: 53 days, 297 decisionsMayJune 2026: 50 days, 251 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 51 days, 260 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 244 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 52 days, 295 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
Tree works3794%96%736138 of 324
Householder applications5389%97%73448 of 200
Discharge of conditions5067%96%654119 of 310
Full applications7234%89%302277 of 359
Amendments5272%97%237235 of 356
Listed building consent5564%96%18465 of 307
Lawful development certificates4986%94%137117 of 348
Prior approvals4188%75%106252 of 340
Outline applications *5750%55%2640 of 110
Reserved matters *9818%100%2527 of 44
Advertisement consent *5570%100%23144 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5095%3,140
Planning committeeunder 1%11783%12

Where the register states how the decision was made. 24 decisions did not say.

Appeals

65 appeals against South Cambridgeshire decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 45 for every 100 refusals; 20% were allowed. Every appeal in South Cambridgeshire.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *35100%98%102
2017 *6432%90%33
2018 *6426%91%44
2019 *2892%97%740
2020 *1158%97%140
2021 *3785%97%719
2022 *2388%98%114
2023 *5654%100%28
2024 *3987%97%798
2025 *2881%100%48
2026 so far5364%95%2,383

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

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.