Planning decisions in Wandsworth

How long Wandsworth takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 3,859 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.

47 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 56 from receipt
74%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 90% within thirteen
90%approved (UK 90%): 3,475 approved, 375 refused, 2 withdrawn
52 of 388UK rank for speed, up 20 places on last year; 220 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 308 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 56 days, 304 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 56 days, 312 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 352 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 280 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 59 days, 341 decisionsMarApril 2026: 63 days, 314 decisionsAprMay 2026: 65 days, 310 decisionsMayJune 2026: 66 days, 352 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 63 days, 357 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 59 days, 370 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 61 days, 259 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 applications5070%91%89926 of 200
Tree works1384%97%81413 of 324
Full applications5164%86%78118 of 359
Discharge of conditions4963%98%409107 of 310
Lawful development certificates4891%83%363105 of 348
Amendments4273%86%218133 of 356
Advertisement consent4777%77%13029 of 320
Prior approvals3394%76%122130 of 340
Section 106 and planning obligations5257%100%497 of 29
Listed building consent5355%98%4834 of 307

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%4690%2,435
Planning committeeunder 1%10588%8

Where the register states how the decision was made. 1,416 decisions did not say.

Appeals

106 appeals against Wandsworth decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 28 for every 100 refusals; 26% were allowed. Every appeal in Wandsworth.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5460%93%30
2017 *6741%90%39
2018 *5662%99%76
2019 *6642%95%77
2020 *6537%95%190
2021 *8729%97%38
2022 *9232%96%25
2023 *7037%98%730
2024 *3176%83%46
2025 *2884%95%43
2026 so far6044%90%2,935

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

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.