Planning decisions in South Somerset

How long South Somerset takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,694 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.

38 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 45 from receipt
82%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 93% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 90%): 1,549 approved, 73 refused, 43 withdrawn
6 of 388UK rank for speed, down 5 places on last year; 68 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 13 days, 34 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 38 days, 62 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 37 days, 127 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 44 days, 151 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 50 days, 143 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 43 days, 145 decisionsMarApril 2026: 46 days, 166 decisionsAprMay 2026: 45 days, 189 decisionsMayJune 2026: 47 days, 138 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 45 days, 205 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 49 days, 142 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 49 days, 192 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 works4289%97%312205 of 324
Discharge of conditions2283%98%3111 of 310
Householder applications3890%98%3025 of 200
Full applications5557%95%21784 of 359
Amendments3582%91%19486 of 356
Prior approvals1996%96%12322 of 340
Listed building consent4672%95%1186 of 307
Lawful development certificates3097%93%6327 of 348
Outline applications *10040%73%1692 of 110
Advertisement consent *46100%80%1020 of 320
Section 106 and planning obligations *5750%90%1012 of 29

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%3995%1,558
Planning committeeunder 1%9575%4

Where the register states how the decision was made. 132 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5653%98%274
2017 *2497%over 99%368
2018 *2891%100%47
2019 *2681%95%40
2020 *2686%97%73
2021 *9114%93%31
2022 *4286%99%362
2023 *5461%78%121
2024 *1997%100%80
2025 *11100%100%80
2026 so far4767%96%1,471

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