Planning decisions in Westminster

How long Westminster takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 7,959 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.

53 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 59 from receipt
56%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 74% within thirteen
89%approved (UK 90%): 6,763 approved, 856 refused, 250 withdrawn
183 of 388UK rank for speed, down 177 places on last year; 263 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 35 days, 519 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 50 days, 496 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 36 days, 20 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 54 days, 281 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 106 days, 723 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 98 days, 895 decisionsMarApril 2026: 73 days, 862 decisionsAprMay 2026: 65 days, 841 decisionsMayJune 2026: 62 days, 844 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 56 days, 1027 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 49 days, 693 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 52 days, 758 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 applications7336%86%2,036281 of 359
Discharge of conditions3371%90%1,83813 of 310
Listed building consent6343%90%1,534175 of 307
Advertisement consent3672%83%9835 of 320
Tree works3479%over 99%76298 of 324
Amendments5256%90%429242 of 356
Lawful development certificates5164%80%190164 of 348
Prior approvals5381%81%100328 of 340
Other3366%86%3212 of 35

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5389%7,612
Planning committeeunder 1%17281%26

Where the register states how the decision was made. 321 decisions did not say.

Appeals

144 appeals against Westminster decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 17 for every 100 refusals; 30% were allowed. Every appeal in Westminster.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5561%74%126
2017 *4898%4%193
2018 *4972%4%297
2019 *4994%69%56
2020 *5193%50%33
2021 *5071%88%133
2022 *5456%85%72
2023 *5452%78%74
2024 *5563%84%46
2025 *17100%100%44
2026 so far6444%89%6,924

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

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.