Reading the planning clock: England's residential decisions, 2025/26

What do planning decision-time statistics actually measure? This briefing examines 37,249 major and minor residential application decisions in England between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, using MHCLG's PS2 open data.

The analysis compares England with all nine regions and tracks the four quarters separately. It shows how the PA category, which includes Planning Performance Agreements, Extensions of Time and Environmental Impact Assessments, changes the population covered by the detailed elapsed-time bands. National Parks remain separately identified in the backing data.

80.2% of major residential decisions and 58.6% of minor residential decisions were in the PA category. Those shares are not delay rates. Detailed time bands cover the non-PA subset and cannot establish the average waiting time for all applications.

The backing-data archive contains the original source CSV, three derived datasets, calculation code, methods, a claim ledger and checksums. The MHCLG source release and reporting guidance explain the collection and definitions.

For the distinction between planning decisions and delivered homes, see our companion housing-pipeline study. Construction Capital's wider market reports provide the broader property-market context.

Author: Matt Lenzie, Construction Capital, a commercial property-finance business. This descriptive analysis shares an official source vintage with the companion study and does not constitute independent corroboration or peer review. Original public-sector information: OGL v3.0. Derived work: CC BY 4.0.

Transcript

1. Reading the planning clock England’s residential planning decisions, 2025/26 National findings and nine regional comparisons Matt Lenzie | Construction Capital 13 September 2026
2. Detailed time bands cover a minority of decisions 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 19.8% 41.4% 80.2% 58.6% Major residential PA category Minor residential Detailed elapsed-time bands 3,423 of 4,269 major decisions sit in the PA category. The six detailed time bands describe the other 846 decisions. PA is the official category for agreements, extensions and environmental impact assessments.
3. What “in time” measures 92.6% 89.4% Major PA decisions within the EIA or agreed time limit Minor PA decisions within the EIA or agreed time limit An “in time” result does not reveal the number of weeks taken. These figures cannot be read as 8-week or 13-week completion rates. PA = Planning Performance Agreements, Extensions of Time and Environmental Impact Assessments.
4. Regional PA coverage: major residential decisions 81.6% South West (n=559) 77.9% South East (n=897) 88.5% London (n=287) East of England (n=581) 80.7% West Midlands (n=372) 79.8% East Midlands (n=511) 81.4% 77.4% Yorkshire & Humber (n=412) 80.0% North West (n=446) 76.5% North East (n=183) 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% England: 80.2%. The denominator n is residential application decisions, not homes. 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
5. Minor decisions have a different regional pattern South West (n=5,388) 59.0% South East (n=6,036) 60.4% 48.6% London (n=6,162) East of England (n=5,053) 57.9% West Midlands (n=2,542) 59.1% 66.7% East Midlands (n=2,384) 58.9% Yorkshire & Humber (n=2,321) 69.0% North West (n=2,244) 72.9% North East (n=495) 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% England: 58.6%. Regional case mix differs; PA shares are not a council-performance ranking. 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
6. The pattern persists across all four quarters 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 78.2% 80.3% 81.6% 80.5% 57.0% 57.9% 59.3% 60.4% Apr–Jun 2025 Jul–Sep 2025 Oct–Dec 2025 Jan–Mar 2026 Major residential Minor residential Share of decisions in the PA category. Quarter refers to decision date, not submission date.
7. Longer decisions exist within the non-PA subset 91 of 846 661 of 13,643 Major non-PA decisions took more than 26 weeks 10.8% of this subset Minor non-PA decisions took more than 26 weeks 4.8% of this subset The PA population has no equivalent detailed duration bands in this file. These proportions cannot describe all residential applications. “More than 26 weeks” combines the over-26-to-52-week and beyond-52-week source bands.
8. Using the figures in a development appraisal The source describes decisions already issued Pending and withdrawn applications are outside this decision population. The tables therefore cannot predict a new application’s waiting time. A site-specific programme needs its own evidence The agreed timetable, application type and unresolved matters provide more useful scheduling context than a national “in time” percentage. Our companion study separates planning approvals from completed homes Descriptive analysis. No average duration, causal ranking or development-finance cost is estimated.
9. Sources, data and reuse MHCLG source release and definitions PS1 / PS2 reporting guidance Download the 13-file backing-data archive Explore Construction Capital’s wider market reports The archive includes the original CSV, derived tables, code, methods and checksums. England totals include National Parks, retained separately from the nine regions. Source: Open Government Licence v3.0. Derived work: CC BY 4.0. Matt Lenzie, Construction Capital. Shared source data with our R21 study; this publication does not constitute independent corroboration or peer review.