Planning decisions in York

How long York takes to decide a planning application and how many it approves, from the 2,362 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.

56 daysmedian from validation to decision (UK 54); 59 from receipt
62%decided within eight weeks (UK 66%), 86% within thirteen
89%approved (UK 90%): 1,996 approved, 247 refused, 84 withdrawn
284 of 388UK rank for speed, down 93 places on last year; 256 of 388 for approvals
056 October 2025: 56 days, 231 decisionsOctNovember 2025: 57 days, 181 decisionsNovDecember 2025: 57 days, 179 decisionsDecJanuary 2026: 62 days, 237 decisionsJanFebruary 2026: 60 days, 173 decisionsFebMarch 2026: 56 days, 226 decisionsMarApril 2026: 56 days, 202 decisionsAprMay 2026: 59 days, 189 decisionsMayJune 2026: 61 days, 181 decisionsJunJuly 2026: 62 days, 211 decisionsJulAugust 2026: 57 days, 167 decisionsAugSeptember 2026: 71 days, 185 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 applications5657%85%866133 of 359
Tree works5651%97%405303 of 324
Discharge of conditions4363%97%31653 of 310
Prior approvals2595%87%21548 of 340
Lawful development certificates5585%88%165235 of 348
Listed building consent6937%86%137212 of 307
Amendments5371%88%129250 of 356
Advertisement consent5661%76%76212 of 320
Householder applications3696%89%274 of 200

Delegated or committee

RouteShareMedian daysApprovedDecisions
Delegated to officersover 99%5687%1,876
Planning committeeunder 1%20980%5

Where the register states how the decision was made. 481 decisions did not say.

Appeals

87 appeals against York decisions were decided by the Planning Inspectorate in the window, 35 for every 100 refusals; 31% were allowed. Every appeal in York.

By year

Year decidedMedian daysWithin 8 weeksApprovedDecisions
2016 *6527%93%36
2017 *4758%81%27
2018 *3668%71%36
2019 *5651%96%353
2020 *6323%79%62
2021 *856%100%67
2022 *6718%78%72
2023 *1067%83%64
2024 *5662%83%31
2025 *2789%89%207
2026 so far5940%89%1,771

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

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.