Planning decisions in Waltham Forest

How long Waltham Forest takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,758 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.

55 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 56 from receipt
76%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 87% within thirteen
79%approved (UK 90%): 2,043 approved, 559 refused, 106 withdrawn
217 of 388UK rank for speed, up 22 places on last year; 382 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 204 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 204 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 247 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 57 days, 195 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 60 days, 199 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 261 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 244 decisionsAprMay 2026: 56 days, 255 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 236 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 268 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 231 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 214 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 applications5579%81%74681 of 200
Full applications5664%74%612106 of 359
Lawful development certificates5590%81%579232 of 348
Discharge of conditions5656%83%323226 of 310
Prior approvals4097%67%239224 of 340
Amendments5561%81%108279 of 356
Tree works54100%100%76282 of 324
Advertisement consent5674%74%43201 of 320
Listed building consent *6040%87%18164 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5578%2,663
Planning committeeunder 1%12992%13

Where the register states how the decision was made. 82 decisions did not say.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6245%90%71
2017 *6246%78%196
2018 *11224%76%30
2019 *5669%95%78
2020 *6240%73%38
2021 *7636%90%393
2022 *6344%97%44
2023 *7933%91%268
20255653%77%963
2026 so far5654%79%2,103

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

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.