Planning decisions in South Norfolk Broadland

How long South Norfolk Broadland takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,242 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.

49 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 54 from receipt
67%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 84% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 90%): 2,846 approved, 153 refused, 119 withdrawn
87 of 388UK rank for speed, down 46 places on last year; 83 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 43 days, 308 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 52 days, 232 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 51 days, 267 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 233 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 54 days, 235 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 54 days, 259 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 258 decisionsAprMay 2026: 53 days, 252 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 298 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 54 days, 329 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 255 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 62 days, 316 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 works2499%98%83035 of 324
Householder applications5464%96%76872 of 200
Discharge of conditions5261%over 99%386146 of 310
Full applications9424%86%374333 of 359
Amendments4971%96%298198 of 356
Listed building consent5848%99%217147 of 307
Lawful development certificates4982%86%96122 of 348
Prior approvals4457%87%72300 of 340
Outline applications17213%32%33108 of 110
Advertisement consent6048%96%25272 of 320
Reserved matters *1198%100%1331 of 44

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%4895%3,031
Planning committee2%27282%55

Where the register states how the decision was made. 156 decisions did not say.

Appeals

53 appeals against South Norfolk Broadland decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 35 for every 100 refusals; 26% were allowed. Every appeal in South Norfolk Broadland.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5462%96%58
2017 *5470%95%76
2018 *2678%100%78
2019 *5267%98%301
2020 *5269%100%29
2021 *6343%99%598
2022 *7920%94%61
2023 *5652%94%34
2024 *7532%96%31
2025 *3564%93%201
2026 so far5554%95%2,435

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

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.