Planning decisions in Swale

How long Swale takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,124 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); 55 from receipt
72%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 90% within thirteen
93%approved (UK 90%): 981 approved, 75 refused, 60 withdrawn
219 of 388UK rank for speed; 152 of 388 for approvals
056 January 2026: 12 days, 85 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 35 days, 89 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 49 days, 114 decisionsMarApril 2026: 52 days, 93 decisionsAprMay 2026: 52 days, 94 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 111 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 106 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 81 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 107 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
Full applications5665%90%42299 of 359
Discharge of conditions5561%99%231196 of 310
Tree works34100%100%12087 of 324
Lawful development certificates5485%90%100209 of 348
Amendments4272%86%81135 of 356
Listed building consent5661%90%6288 of 307
Prior approvals4392%92%55287 of 340
Advertisement consent *55100%100%21146 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5594%1,107
Planning committee1%10150%16

Where the register states how the decision was made. 1 decisions did not say.

Appeals

47 appeals against Swale decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 63 for every 100 refusals; 26% were allowed. Every appeal in Swale.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
202593%319
2026 so far5572%93%880

Past their target date now

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Swale's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Swale, appeals, or get alerts for Swale.

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.