Planning decisions in St Albans

How long St Albans takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,384 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.

55 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 61 from receipt
54%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 78% within thirteen
88%approved (UK 90%): 1,921 approved, 261 refused, 122 withdrawn
264 of 388UK rank for speed, down 76 places on last year; 275 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 44 days, 64 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 52 days, 148 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 207 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 179 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 71 days, 190 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 60 days, 192 decisionsMarApril 2026: 57 days, 231 decisionsAprMay 2026: 64 days, 210 decisionsMayJune 2026: 79 days, 268 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 78 days, 238 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 85 days, 203 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 64 days, 254 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 applications8126%86%698195 of 200
Tree works4394%99%648221 of 324
Lawful development certificates5650%72%243319 of 348
Discharge of conditions5556%93%230206 of 310
Prior approvals39100%67%94206 of 340
Amendments5462%72%83258 of 356
Full applications11910%76%63353 of 359
Listed building consent6342%96%55176 of 307
Advertisement consent *5452%91%26140 of 320
Reserved matters *6925%92%2215 of 44
Other *3370%90%1111 of 35
Outline applications *9220%50%1090 of 110

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5588%2,235
Planning committeeunder 1%46990%10

Where the register states how the decision was made. 139 decisions did not say.

Appeals

87 appeals against St Albans decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 33 for every 100 refusals; 34% were allowed. Every appeal in St Albans.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *7029%93%56
2017 *5846%94%67
2018 *7918%78%92
2019 *5268%100%428
2020 *9617%71%78
2021 *6927%81%48
2022 *6434%87%38
2023 *4268%55%66
2024 *5560%70%30
2025 *8513%92%52
2026 so far6841%88%1,965

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

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.