Planning decisions in Southend

How long Southend takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,205 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.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 56 from receipt
70%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 92% within thirteen
85%approved (UK 90%): 982 approved, 172 refused, 20 withdrawn
272 of 388UK rank for speed, down 44 places on last year; 328 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 57 days, 151 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 16 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 54 days, 75 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 120 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 58 days, 105 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 112 decisionsMarApril 2026: 58 days, 106 decisionsAprMay 2026: 57 days, 140 decisionsMayJune 2026: 61 days, 136 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 132 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 57 days, 117 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 144 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
Householder applications5671%92%320114 of 200
Full applications5651%79%252158 of 359
Lawful development certificates5594%86%164228 of 348
Discharge of conditions5660%97%153221 of 310
Prior approvals3995%55%104213 of 340
Tree works5479%80%83283 of 324
Amendments5667%81%74292 of 356
Advertisement consent5659%94%33219 of 320
Listed building consent *8636%91%11275 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%5686%1,168
Planning committee3%8570%30

Where the register states how the decision was made. 7 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5652%93%27
2017 *5657%71%146
2018 *8426%89%28
2019 *5100%91%34
2020 *4587%92%81
2021 *28100%62%29
2022 *793%93%68
2023 *8926%89%29
2024 *5842%87%32
2025 *5749%76%128
2026 so far5651%86%1,112

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

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.