Most valid planning applications in England have an 8-week determination period. The period is 13 weeks for major development and 16 weeks where an Environmental Impact Assessment is required. These are calendar periods, so weekends and bank holidays count.
To calculate the ordinary date, identify the application category and the date on which the local planning authority received a valid application. The period starts on the following day. A written extension can set a later agreed date.
This guide covers England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different planning systems and appeal routes. The official material linked below was checked on 26 July 2026.
Choose the determination period
Article 34 of the Development Management Procedure (England) Order 2015 sets the main periods:
| Application category | Period | Calendar days |
|---|---|---|
| Standard application, including householder and minor commercial | 8 weeks | 56 |
| Major development | 13 weeks | 91 |
| Development requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment | 16 weeks | 112 |
| Technical details consent, non-major | 5 weeks | 35 |
| Technical details consent, major | 10 weeks | 70 |
The first three rows are the ordinary planning application periods. The calendar-day column is useful when entering a date in the calculator. Turn on Calendar days; do not exclude weekends or bank holidays for this count.
Other applications have their own rules. Advertisement consent, listed-building consent, approval of conditions and prior approval should not be treated as ordinary 8-week applications. Check the authority's acknowledgement or validation notice for the application type.
Check whether the development is major
The 13-week category is based on the definition of major development in article 2 of the 2015 Order. It includes mineral working and waste development, 10 or more dwellings, housing on a site of at least 0.5 hectares where the number of dwellings is not known, buildings creating at least 1,000 square metres of floor space, and development on a site of at least 1 hectare.
If an Environmental Impact Assessment is required, the 16-week period applies instead of the ordinary 8 or 13-week period. Confirm the application classification before counting any days.
Count from valid receipt, not submission
The Planning Inspectorate's current guidance treats the day after the authority receives the valid application as the first day of the period. That may differ from the day an application was uploaded or from the date of a later email.
| Record | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Submission or upload date | When material was sent, not necessarily the statutory start date |
| Valid-receipt or validation date | The date from which the determination period is calculated |
| Following day | Day 1 of the relevant 56, 91 or 112-day period |
There may be a dispute about whether the application was valid. If the authority issues an article 12 non-validation notice, the Planning Inspectorate may need to decide whether the disputed information was necessary. There is no reliable date to calculate until that issue is resolved.
Example: an ordinary 8-week application
Assume that the authority recorded a standard application as validly received on Tuesday 2 June 2026. There is no written extension and no specialist regime.
The count starts on Wednesday 3 June, which is day 1. Day 56 is Tuesday 28 July 2026.
The same valid-receipt date would give Tuesday 1 September 2026 for a 13-week period and Tuesday 22 September 2026 for a 16-week period. Only one of those periods applies to the application; the other dates show how the application category changes the calculation.
| Setting | Selection |
|---|---|
| Start date | 2 June 2026 |
| Direction | Forward |
| Calendar days | On |
| Number of calendar days | 56 |
| Include start date | No |
| Include deadline date | Yes |
Open the 56-calendar-day example in the calculator.
The calculator provides the date on those assumptions. It cannot resolve a dispute about validity or decide whether the proposal is major development or requires an Environmental Impact Assessment.
A written extension sets an agreed date
The authority and applicant can agree a longer decision period in writing. The agreement should state the period within which a decision is expected. They can also vary that timetable by a further written agreement.
| Date to keep | How it is set |
|---|---|
| Statutory end date | Application category and valid-receipt date |
| Agreed end date | Written extension or planning performance agreement |
Keep both dates. A non-determination appeal may run from the end of the statutory period or from the period agreed in writing. A longer agreed period also affects the planning-guarantee fee-refund conditions described below. Whether an extension was validly agreed, and whether to accept one, are matters outside the calculator.
The planning guarantee does not replace the statutory period
Government policy says that major applications should normally be decided within 26 weeks and non-major applications within 16 weeks if no extension has been agreed. It also describes a wider guarantee that an application should not spend more than a year with decision-makers, including appeal time.
Those policy periods do not replace the 8, 13 or 16-week determination periods. The 26 and 16-week periods matter to a possible fee refund when an application remains undetermined, no appeal has been made and no longer period was agreed. That is a different question from when a non-determination appeal becomes available.
If the authority does not decide in time
The determination date is the starting point for a non-determination appeal, but it is not the appeal deadline. Time limits differ by application type, and the period runs from the end of the statutory or agreed determination period rather than from a decision notice. A separate and much shorter limit can apply where an enforcement notice concerns the same or substantially similar development. Take the applicable limit from the Planning Inspectorate procedural guide for the date of the application.
Prior approval is a separate regime. It sits under permitted-development legislation rather than the ordinary planning timetable, and the relevant part and class of the General Permitted Development Order supplies both the period and the consequence of no decision. Do not assume a generic 56-day period or a deemed grant.
Sources
- GOV.UK: determining a planning application: statutory periods, written extensions, planning guarantee, non-determination and fee-refund conditions; checked 26 July 2026
- Development Management Procedure (England) Order 2015, article 34: statutory determination periods
- Planning appeals procedural guide for applications dated on or after 1 April 2026: current determination and appeal tables
- GOV.UK: appeals planning practice guidance: non-determination rights and performance targets
- GOV.UK: making an application: validation and article 12 dispute process
- GOV.UK: when is permission required?: prior-approval periods and non-determination consequences
