Planning decisions in Three Rivers

How long Three Rivers takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 859 decisions it made in the twelve months to August 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.

50 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 52); 55 from receipt
87%decided within eight weeks (UK 73%), 97% within thirteen
90%approved (UK 89%): 666 approved, 77 refused, 44 withdrawn
108 of 321UK rank for speed, down 40 places on last year; 186 of 321 for approvals
056 September 2025: 55 days, 51 decisionsSeptOctober 2025: 50 days, 115 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 53 days, 75 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 51 days, 61 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 11 days, 4 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 43 days, 46 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 52 days, 133 decisionsMarApril 2026: 54 days, 142 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 146 decisionsMayJune 2026: 55 days, 167 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 139 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 58 days, 82 decisionsAug
Median days from validation to decision, by month of decision. Dashed line: UK median (52 days). Grid at 56 and 91 days, the eight and thirteen week targets.

By kind of application

KindMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisionsUK rank
Full applications (including householder)5580%88%317118 of 302
Tree works2792%89%22843 of 259
Lawful development certificates5196%94%92131 of 253
Prior approvals35100%87%4263 of 168
Amendments *26100%100%2651 of 263
Other *2288%88%1724 of 41

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers98%5090%796
Planning committee2%8180%15

Where the register states how the decision was made. 48 decisions did not say.

Appeals

52 appeals against Three Rivers decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 68 for every 100 refusals; 27% 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 far5559%90%859

* 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 321 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.