Planning decisions in Swindon

How long Swindon takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,520 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.

48 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 49 from receipt
87%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 95% within thirteen
93%approved (UK 90%): 1,252 approved, 98 refused, 95 withdrawn
59 of 388UK rank for speed, up 80 places on last year; 157 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 54 days, 143 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 50 days, 111 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 45 days, 167 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 53 days, 119 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 51 days, 120 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 42 days, 143 decisionsMarApril 2026: 51 days, 127 decisionsAprMay 2026: 49 days, 128 decisionsMayJune 2026: 45 days, 127 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 48 days, 131 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 49 days, 101 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 51 days, 103 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 applications5095%95%40019 of 200
Full applications5570%84%26961 of 359
Discharge of conditions4077%95%22437 of 310
Tree works3697%99%191117 of 324
Lawful development certificates40100%87%12150 of 348
Amendments2884%93%9837 of 356
Advertisement consent4797%99%8228 of 320
Listed building consent5290%95%5222 of 307
Prior approvals3788%88%48191 of 340
Reserved matters *1160%100%1330 of 44

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%4793%1,409
Planning committee2%10787%23

Where the register states how the decision was made. 88 decisions did not say.

Appeals

20 appeals against Swindon decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 20 for every 100 refusals; 35% were allowed. Every appeal in Swindon.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6335%95%37
2017 *7834%98%50
2018 *5258%100%64
2019 *2495%97%129
2020 *7229%100%36
2021 *1183%94%36
2022 *5063%99%170
2023 *4972%98%136
2024 *10919%88%63
2025 *5661%89%50
2026 so far4976%93%1,099

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

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.