The statutory answer is 8 weeks for a householder application — but the clock only starts when your application is validated, and extensions of time are common. This guide maps the whole journey, from submission to decision, including the 42-day prior approval route and what happens if you appeal.
Planning permission for a householder project takes a statutory target of 8 weeks from the date your application is validated; larger 'major' schemes take 13 weeks, and prior approval for larger home extensions takes 42 days. The full set of timescales you should plan around:
The 8-week period begins when the council *validates* your application — confirms that every required document is present, correctly scaled and legible, and that the correct fee has been paid — not when you submit. This is the most misunderstood fact about planning timescales: until validation, your application legally does not exist, and days or weeks can evaporate here before the statutory clock ticks once.
Every council publishes a local validation checklist alongside the national requirements. For a householder application that typically means completed forms, the application fee, a site location plan with the site edged in red, a block plan, and existing and proposed floor plans and elevations at recognised scales. Some boroughs add extras — a design and access statement in conservation areas, daylight assessments for certain extensions, or biodiversity information.
Invalid applications are the single biggest self-inflicted delay in the system. A missing existing elevation or an unscaled plan means the council writes to you, you fix it, and the queue starts again. Professionally prepared drawing packs are validated first time precisely because they are assembled against the council's own checklist — it is the cheapest week you will ever save.
Once validated, a typical householder application moves through four overlapping phases. Here is how the 8 weeks are usually spent.
The council registers the application, publishes it online, and notifies neighbours by letter or site notice. Statutory consultees — highways, conservation officers, sometimes Thames Water or Historic England — are invited to comment.
Neighbours and consultees have at least 21 days to make representations. Objections do not decide the application — planning is not a vote — but material points raised here shape the case officer's questions.
The officer visits the site, tests the scheme against the local plan and national policy, and may negotiate amendments — a reduced projection, an obscure-glazed window. Responding fast to these requests protects your deadline.
Almost all householder applications are decided by officers under delegated powers rather than by planning committee. The decision notice grants permission (usually with conditions), or refuses with written reasons.
If the council cannot decide in time, it will ask you to agree an extension of time to a named date. Refusing rarely helps — your options are a fee-free re-application later or an appeal for non-determination, both slower than waiting. Agreeing, while chasing the case officer weekly, is almost always the faster route to a positive decision.
Prior approval takes a maximum of 42 days: the council must respond within 42 days of receiving a valid notification, and the scope of its decision is limited to the effect on neighbouring amenity. Single-storey rear extensions of up to 6 metres on attached houses, or 8 metres on detached, can bypass the full planning process using this regime — a neighbour-consultation scheme that is now a permanent part of the GPDO.
The timeline inside those 42 days is simple: the council notifies your adjoining neighbours, who have 21 days to object. No objections, and the council confirms you may proceed. Objections trigger an assessment, but only of amenity impact — not design, not materials, not garden size. And uniquely in the planning system, silence works in your favour: if the council fails to notify you of its decision within 42 days, approval is deemed granted and you can lawfully build.
For homeowners whose project fits the dimensions, this is usually the fastest route to a deep rear extension — roughly half the elapsed time of a full application, with a narrower and more predictable test. The trade-off is rigidity: the extension must comply exactly with every other Class A limit on height, eaves and materials, because prior approval cannot flex them.
Longer — but usually by months, not years, and most applications are still decided within or close to target. When they are not, these are the routes and their realistic timescales.
If the officer requests changes, minor amendments are usually absorbed within the existing period or a short extension. Responding within days rather than weeks keeps the decision on schedule.
A refusal is not the end: you can submit one revised application without a further application fee within 12 months of the decision. A redesign addressing the stated reasons is typically decided in a fresh 8-week period.
If the council simply never decides, you can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate once the statutory period expires. It transfers the decision to an inspector but restarts the waiting — usually months, not weeks.
Lodged within 12 weeks of the decision notice and dealt with under the fast-track written procedure, householder appeals typically take around 4 to 6 months from submission to an inspector's decision.
You cannot control the council's workload, but you control almost everything else. Submit a complete, checklist-compliant package so validation happens in days. Design to your borough's written policies rather than against them, so the officer's report writes itself. Deal with the obvious objection points — overlooking windows, boundary heights, daylight to next door — on the drawings before a neighbour raises them. And when the case officer asks for a tweak, turn it around in forty-eight hours.
This is where professional preparation pays for itself in weeks rather than promises. Our packs are assembled against each council's own validation list, our designs are tested against local approval patterns before submission, and we handle case-officer negotiations for you — with free revisions until you have a decision. The council's clock is fixed by statute; everything either side of it can be compressed.
The statutory eight weeks is the same everywhere; the practical timetable is not. Caseloads, conservation referrals and consultation patterns differ noticeably between boroughs.
Islington's dense conservation coverage over its Georgian terraces means many applications pick up heritage consultations, which often stretch decisions beyond the headline eight weeks — complete, policy-aware packages make the biggest difference here.
Camden's mews and Georgian streets fall largely within conservation areas, so applications typically route past conservation officers — building that extra review into your programme avoids unpleasant surprises.
Richmond's Georgian stock and famously careful conservation approach mean officers often request design amendments mid-application — responding within days rather than weeks keeps the clock from drifting.
Battersea's Victorian terraces and mansion blocks generate steady householder caseloads for Wandsworth; straightforward, validation-ready schemes here frequently land close to the statutory timetable.
Clapham's Victorian terraces sit under Lambeth, where neighbour consultation on party-wall-tight streets is often the pacing item — pre-empting overlooking and daylight objections on the drawings keeps things moving.
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A householder planning application for an extension has a statutory target of 8 weeks from validation to decision. Add one to two weeks for validation and you should plan for roughly two to three months end to end — or around six weeks total if your extension qualifies for the 42-day prior approval route.
From the date the council validates your application — confirms all required drawings, forms and the fee are present and correct — not the date you submit. Incomplete submissions are returned and the clock never starts, which is why validation-ready drawing packs are the biggest single time-saver available.
Yes, and many do. The 8 weeks is a statutory target, not a hard limit: councils routinely ask applicants to agree an extension of time to a named date. Your alternatives — appealing for non-determination or resubmitting — are both slower, so agreeing while actively chasing the case officer is usually the pragmatic choice.
42 days. The council notifies your neighbours, who have 21 days to comment, and must issue its decision within 42 days of receiving a valid notification. If it misses that deadline, approval is deemed granted automatically — a protection that does not exist anywhere in the full planning application process.
12 weeks from the date on the decision notice — a shorter deadline than the 6 months allowed for most other planning appeals, so act promptly. Householder appeals use a fast-track written representations procedure and are typically decided by a planning inspector within about 4 to 6 months.
Standard planning permissions last three years: you must make a material start on site within that period or the permission lapses. A lawful start — such as digging compliant foundations — preserves the permission indefinitely, but conditions attached to the consent must still be discharged in the required sequence.
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