Planning decisions in West Suffolk

How long West Suffolk takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,160 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
65%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 87% within thirteen
95%approved (UK 90%): 1,900 approved, 90 refused, 135 withdrawn
238 of 388UK rank for speed, down 140 places on last year; 70 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 54 days, 174 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 53 days, 144 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 54 days, 198 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 58 days, 174 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 158 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 55 days, 180 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 198 decisionsAprMay 2026: 57 days, 191 decisionsMayJune 2026: 56 days, 183 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 62 days, 208 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 54 days, 169 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 183 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
Tree works3992%98%593167 of 324
Householder applications5656%97%429142 of 200
Discharge of conditions5159%98%348135 of 310
Full applications6930%90%246253 of 359
Amendments4069%96%145119 of 356
Listed building consent5938%97%140155 of 307
Lawful development certificates5577%86%91243 of 348
Prior approvals4987%90%88313 of 340
Advertisement consent5845%88%39262 of 320
Reserved matters *1390%100%1237 of 44

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5595%1,945
Planning committee1%9295%21

Where the register states how the decision was made. 194 decisions did not say.

Appeals

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

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *7030%92%53
2017 *7514%85%60
2018 *6430%93%57
2019 *5655%79%152
2020 *2678%97%136
2021 *2879%90%42
2022 *7138%98%391
2023 *8821%97%38
2024 *8911%94%35
2025 *8210%85%46
2026 so far5651%95%1,644

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

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.