Planning decisions in Wokingham

How long Wokingham takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,442 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); 56 from receipt
71%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 88% within thirteen
92%approved (UK 90%): 2,005 approved, 172 refused, 69 withdrawn
170 of 388UK rank for speed, up 22 places on last year; 177 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 60 days, 195 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 55 days, 204 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 54 days, 181 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 63 days, 228 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 56 days, 153 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 234 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 209 decisionsAprMay 2026: 58 days, 198 decisionsMayJune 2026: 58 days, 207 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 57 days, 238 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 55 days, 175 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 56 days, 220 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 works5576%93%256288 of 324
Lawful development certificates5292%74%182170 of 348
Amendments2396%85%11510 of 356
Prior approvals4094%95%64226 of 340
Listed building consent5458%94%3544 of 307
Other *2195%90%246 of 35
Reserved matters *16221%100%2040 of 44
Advertisement consent *5083%94%1845 of 320

Appeals

35 appeals against Wokingham decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 20 for every 100 refusals; 23% were allowed. Every appeal in Wokingham.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *5652%92%48
2017 *5554%95%44
2018 *3677%94%283
2019 *6945%93%60
2020 *3985%81%258
2021 *5850%96%51
2022 *2883%96%412
2023 *5055%97%128
2024 *5652%90%63
2025 *5650%83%230
2026 so far5749%92%1,862

* Years from our archive, which carries no validation date: timed from receipt, so a few days longer than the live years above them.

Decided in the last three weeks

Built nightly from Wokingham's planning register. Ranks are among the 388 published councils. See planning applications in Wokingham, appeals, or get alerts for Wokingham.

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.