Planning decisions in Wirral

How long Wirral takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 1,347 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); 72 from receipt
56%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 77% within thirteen
88%approved (UK 90%): 1,138 approved, 157 refused, 38 withdrawn
256 of 388UK rank for speed, down 33 places on last year; 277 of 388 for approvals
05691 October 2025: 70 days, 101 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 71 days, 108 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 69 days, 104 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 76 days, 116 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 75 days, 91 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 64 days, 129 decisionsMarApril 2026: 72 days, 123 decisionsAprMay 2026: 62 days, 102 decisionsMayJune 2026: 76 days, 119 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 72 days, 125 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 77 days, 96 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 91 days, 133 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 applications5656%90%522141 of 200
Full applications8434%86%255318 of 359
Discharge of conditions5557%97%150204 of 310
Lawful development certificates5374%82%148193 of 348
Amendments5259%85%100241 of 356
Prior approvals3695%76%64174 of 340
Advertisement consent5363%95%44117 of 320
Listed building consent7339%86%38235 of 307
Outline applications *13450%60%10103 of 110

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officers99%5588%1,326
Planning committee1%10593%15

Where the register states how the decision was made. 6 decisions did not say.

Appeals

57 appeals against Wirral decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 36 for every 100 refusals; 25% were allowed. Every appeal in Wirral.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6134%97%67
2017 *7038%94%76
2018 *6043%98%58
2019 *5848%98%61
2020 *6537%97%68
2021 *8815%100%35
2022 *9314%92%50
2023 *5551%74%52
20256640%90%500
2026 so far7329%87%1,034

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

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.