Planning decisions in Wealden

How long Wealden takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,574 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.

51 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 57 from receipt
72%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 88% within thirteen
86%approved (UK 90%): 2,041 approved, 341 refused, 123 withdrawn
128 of 388UK rank for speed, down 37 places on last year; 323 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 55 days, 234 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 50 days, 196 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 54 days, 185 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 60 days, 230 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 59 days, 185 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 52 days, 195 decisionsMarApril 2026: 58 days, 225 decisionsAprMay 2026: 59 days, 223 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 242 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 61 days, 231 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 56 days, 189 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 59 days, 239 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 applications5565%86%1,00268 of 359
Discharge of conditions4474%87%50657 of 310
Tree works4382%99%275224 of 324
Amendments4873%89%211185 of 356
Lawful development certificates3493%74%20232 of 348
Prior approvals2797%67%12169 of 340
Listed building consent7037%83%113215 of 307
Section 106 and planning obligations5069%94%386 of 29
Advertisement consent5579%93%31142 of 320
Outline applications5748%33%2741 of 110
Other *6244%94%2131 of 35
Reserved matters *7940%100%1120 of 44

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5186%2,533
Planning committee1%14574%28

Where the register states how the decision was made. 13 decisions did not say.

Appeals

101 appeals against Wealden decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 30 for every 100 refusals; 25% were allowed. Every appeal in Wealden.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *7421%93%29
2017 *3189%99%76
2018 *3599%98%359
2019 *7712%91%35
2020 *1050%98%104
2021 *1172%83%204
2022 *6340%93%499
2023 *9618%83%200
2024 *9320%86%182
2025 *5653%79%312
2026 so far5747%85%1,959

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

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.