Planning decisions in Three Rivers

How long Three Rivers takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,732 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.

51 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 55 from receipt
83%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 94% within thirteen
90%approved (UK 90%): 1,304 approved, 150 refused, 91 withdrawn
122 of 388UK rank for speed, up 29 places on last year; 236 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 53 days, 166 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 147 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 54 days, 182 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 54 days, 139 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 59 days, 122 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 53 days, 138 decisionsMarApril 2026: 54 days, 146 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 147 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 166 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 144 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 108 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 58 days, 127 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 applications5574%90%68158 of 359
Tree works3190%88%44080 of 324
Lawful development certificates5195%91%177148 of 348
Prior approvals3799%89%95184 of 340
Amendments4289%95%83128 of 356
Listed building consent *5657%78%25101 of 307
Other *4967%73%1618 of 35
Advertisement consent *5367%100%13116 of 320

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%5090%1,602
Planning committee3%8186%43

Where the register states how the decision was made. 87 decisions did not say.

Appeals

49 appeals against Three Rivers decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 33 for every 100 refusals; 24% were allowed. Every appeal in Three Rivers.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6035%85%29
2017 *5657%92%42
2018 *5838%81%41
2019 *5842%91%39
2020 *6328%84%34
2021 *6043%86%182
2022 *6820%96%31
2023 *4674%96%371
2024 *4273%87%439
2025 *3490%90%270
2026 so far5655%89%1,237

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

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.