Planning decisions in South Cambridgeshire

How long South Cambridgeshire takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,176 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.

48 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 48 from receipt
87%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 97% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 89%): 793 approved, 46 refused, 66 withdrawn
69 of 321UK rank for speed, down 2 places on last year; 91 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 53 days, 329 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 52 days, 327 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 54 days, 261 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 53 days, 383 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 55 days, 251 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 31 days, 36 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 45 days, 89 decisionsMarApril 2026: 44 days, 154 decisionsAprMay 2026: 49 days, 232 decisionsMayJune 2026: 47 days, 213 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 48 days, 231 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 54 days, 220 decisionsAug
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (52 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications (including householder)5383%96%34964 of 302
Tree works3798%98%268112 of 259
Discharge of conditions *3590%0%25719 of 175
Amendments4086%97%98156 of 263
Listed building consent5573%95%7068 of 200
Lawful development certificates4193%96%5952 of 253
Prior approvals *5276%71%37144 of 168
Outline applications *3970%70%108 of 39

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%4894%1,158
Planning committeeunder 1%118100%1

Where the register states how the decision was made. 17 decisions did not say.

Appeals

68 appeals against South Cambridgeshire decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 148 for every 100 refusals; 21% 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 far4887%95%1,176

* 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 321 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.