Planning decisions in Waverley

How long Waverley takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,117 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); 55 from receipt
72%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 89% within thirteen
89%approved (UK 90%): 1,819 approved, 228 refused, 53 withdrawn
220 of 388UK rank for speed, up 18 places on last year; 260 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 207 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 55 days, 172 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 54 days, 168 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 56 days, 181 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 152 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 191 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 170 decisionsAprMay 2026: 55 days, 167 decisionsMayJune 2026: 54 days, 177 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 55 days, 207 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 54 days, 167 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 55 days, 158 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 applications5669%93%780117 of 200
Full applications6443%79%280231 of 359
Amendments4577%92%255155 of 356
Tree works5098%98%251260 of 324
Lawful development certificates5585%81%237225 of 348
Listed building consent5659%91%11495 of 307
Prior approvals4192%78%67246 of 340
Advertisement consent5572%95%39159 of 320
Outline applications5658%24%3535 of 111
Other *5359%100%2221 of 35

Appeals

100 appeals against Waverley decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 44 for every 100 refusals; 25% were allowed. Every appeal in Waverley.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *7028%95%42
2017 *7023%98%120
2018 *769%95%99
2019 *7820%98%43
2020 *1066%99%91
2021 *1420%95%99
2022 *9213%97%36
2023 *2881%77%27
2024 *2879%91%33
2025 *6423%89%36
2026 so far5571%90%1,570

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

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.