Planning decisions in Warrington

How long Warrington takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,557 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); 64 from receipt
64%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 84% within thirteen
86%approved (UK 90%): 1,250 approved, 208 refused, 48 withdrawn
279 of 388UK rank for speed, down 65 places on last year; 320 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 64 days, 117 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 63 days, 129 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 68 days, 131 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 71 days, 126 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 67 days, 111 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 74 days, 152 decisionsMarApril 2026: 70 days, 106 decisionsAprMay 2026: 63 days, 133 decisionsMayJune 2026: 66 days, 138 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 62 days, 150 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 61 days, 135 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 58 days, 129 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 applications5666%87%488119 of 200
Full applications5948%78%248190 of 359
Lawful development certificates5287%81%238171 of 348
Discharge of conditions6347%95%182263 of 310
Tree works5457%98%129284 of 324
Amendments5467%84%89261 of 356
Prior approvals4289%80%82273 of 340
Advertisement consent5658%84%34227 of 320
Listed building consent5652%85%32120 of 307
Outline applications *10314%64%1495 of 111

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers97%5686%1,502
Planning committee3%12290%50

Where the register states how the decision was made. 5 decisions did not say.

Appeals

70 appeals against Warrington decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 34 for every 100 refusals; 27% were allowed. Every appeal in Warrington.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6448%92%25
2017 *6726%97%38
2018 *5745%96%57
2019 *808%96%32
2020 *5848%98%106
2021 *7028%93%48
2022 *8113%95%102
2023 *1770%69%26
20256045%83%575
2026 so far6539%86%1,180

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

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.