Planning decisions in Tonbridge

How long Tonbridge takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,736 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); 68 from receipt
50%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 79% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 90%): 1,453 approved, 80 refused, 94 withdrawn
327 of 388UK rank for speed, down 79 places on last year; 91 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 56 days, 147 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 123 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 61 days, 144 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 65 days, 103 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 73 days, 100 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 83 days, 99 decisionsMarApril 2026: 80 days, 176 decisionsAprMay 2026: 84 days, 175 decisionsMayJune 2026: 73 days, 174 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 75 days, 179 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 66 days, 160 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 68 days, 156 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 applications6342%95%603223 of 359
Tree works4266%98%386217 of 324
Discharge of conditions6539%96%231274 of 310
Lawful development certificates5659%91%185302 of 348
Amendments5656%93%132303 of 356
Listed building consent6642%96%83202 of 307
Prior approvals5077%87%50322 of 340
Advertisement consent *6340%100%21285 of 320
Outline applications *6931%69%1757 of 111

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%6295%1,218
Planning committee1%18057%7

Where the register states how the decision was made. 511 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5656%89%931
2017 *5749%98%109
2018 *5661%96%28
2019 *7040%100%25
2020 *12135%100%26
2021 *7239%97%122
2022 *8924%93%146
2023 *4759%82%105
2024 *4558%100%38
2025 *7727%97%64
2026 so far7331%95%1,322

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

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.