Planning decisions in Thanet

How long Thanet takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,122 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); 70 from receipt
56%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 80% within thirteen
94%approved (UK 90%): 991 approved, 68 refused, 50 withdrawn
307 of 388UK rank for speed, down 195 places on last year; 132 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 68 days, 79 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 70 days, 71 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 57 days, 99 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 66 days, 115 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 67 days, 63 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 75 days, 112 decisionsMarApril 2026: 69 days, 79 decisionsAprMay 2026: 73 days, 104 decisionsMayJune 2026: 70 days, 100 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 64 days, 117 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 91 days, 40 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 84 days, 143 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 applications5660%95%263133 of 200
Full applications7232%90%247279 of 359
Tree works5381%97%174278 of 324
Discharge of conditions5452%99%172181 of 310
Listed building consent6444%97%83184 of 307
Lawful development certificates5372%76%54185 of 348
Prior approvals4189%81%40251 of 340
Amendments5658%92%39299 of 356
Advertisement consent5656%96%30230 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers92%5693%893
Planning committee8%8196%78

Where the register states how the decision was made. 151 decisions did not say.

Appeals

39 appeals against Thanet decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 57 for every 100 refusals; 38% were allowed. Every appeal in Thanet.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6032%92%38
2017 *4365%77%31
2018 *6236%100%28
2019 *5653%83%31
2020 *3378%99%178
2021 *818%85%123
2022 *7027%93%30
2023 *7412%96%26
2024 *874%90%97
2025 *5566%96%161
2026 so far7226%94%873

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

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.