Planning data
How long planning decisions take in City of London
What the public record actually shows for City of London. Every figure below is measured or published, with its sample and its date. Nothing here is an estimate, and none of it predicts what a particular application will do.
How long decisions took
Median weeks from validation to decision, counted from the council’s own register. A median means half of decisions took longer, so it is a middle, not a target.
| Application type | Median | Decisions counted |
|---|---|---|
| Major schemes | 57.4 weeks | 46 |
| All other applications | 12.4 weeks | 139 |
Measured over applications decided 01/07/2024 to 13/07/2026.
Housing Delivery Test
City of London measured 4% in the 2025 Housing Delivery Test — consequence: Presumption.
MHCLG records 15 homes delivered against a three-year requirement of 416.
Published by MHCLG on 2026-08-17. This is the most recent measurement published, not a current-year figure, and it is the number that determines whether the presumption in favour of sustainable development is engaged.
Planning appeals in City of London
6 allowed in full, 18 dismissed, from 24 planning appeals decided for City of London between 01/01/2021 and 31/07/2026.
We do not turn that into a percentage: under 100 decided appeals, a rate looks like a finding and behaves like noise. The counts are the honest form. This is not a statement that no appeals succeeded. Only refused applications get appealed, so these are a self-selected minority of decisions.
What this page is not
It does not tell you what constrains a particular site in City of London. Designations sit on land, not on councils. For that, run a free check on the site itself: it names every designation on or beside the boundary, states when each dataset was last collected, and says plainly where a record is not published rather than showing you a clear result.
Check a site in City of London — freeAppeal outcomes from the Planning Inspectorate appeals database, England only, Open Government Licence v3.0, release of 2026-08-31. Decision speed measured from council registers by PF & Co. Housing Delivery Test © MHCLG, Open Government Licence v3.0. All 274 authorities.