Planning decisions in Stockport

How long Stockport takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,018 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.

42 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 45 from receipt
87%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 95% within thirteen
94%approved (UK 90%): 1,642 approved, 112 refused, 38 withdrawn
18 of 388UK rank for speed, down 9 places on last year; 130 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 90 days, 1 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 9 days, 37 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 35 days, 98 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 49 days, 165 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 36 days, 162 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 41 days, 197 decisionsMarApril 2026: 47 days, 220 decisionsAprMay 2026: 50 days, 172 decisionsMayJune 2026: 49 days, 223 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 46 days, 228 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 49 days, 277 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 52 days, 238 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 applications4384%96%68910 of 200
Tree works5297%95%362273 of 324
Prior approvals1698%97%26614 of 340
Full applications5663%87%148109 of 359
Lawful development certificates2295%84%13615 of 348
Amendments3180%92%10861 of 356
Advertisement consent5070%87%3051 of 320
Listed building consent *6446%100%15190 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%3993%1,408
Planning committeeunder 1%119100%3

Where the register states how the decision was made. 607 decisions did not say.

Appeals

43 appeals against Stockport decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 38 for every 100 refusals; 23% were allowed. Every appeal in Stockport.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6441%99%79
2017 *15100%100%28
2018 *5651%98%294
2019 *5178%92%81
2020 *1290%100%41
2021 *7937%93%33
2022 *2865%94%130
2023 *6046%96%54
2024 *5653%91%69
2025 *6144%90%59
2026 so far4775%94%1,882

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

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.