The planning marathon - making improvements in the long run

Tom Warth (Chief Operating Officer) reflects on the Planning Inspectorate’s long-term improvements as the latest performance statistics are published. 

Secretary of State for Housing, Angela Rayner, recently likened the Government’s target for new homes to running a marathon in under 5 hours – a challenge without doubt, she said, but achievable nonetheless. 

It is an analogy that feels familiar- we’ve been on a journey to improve, but the hard yards, teamwork and long-term strategies have us producing good times. 

I wrote recently about our own ‘marathon’ efforts to improve productivity and bring certainty into the planning process. 

As I concluded then, there’s plenty still do, but our quarterly statistics published this week show those tough miles over the last few years continue to make us quicker.

Current performance 

Here’s what this week’s release tells us: 

• Decision times have improved over the last year (since July 2025), with the median time from validating an application to making a decision reducing from around 20-22 weeks to around 18-19 weeks. The median for the last 12 months was 19.1 weeks.  

• At the end of June 2026, we had 9,772 cases open, a reduction on 10,000 at the end of May 2026 and 11,019 at the end of July 2025. 

• We’ve made 19,190 decisions in the last 12 months. There were 1,667 cases decided in June 2026, with a monthly average of 1,599 over the past 12 months. 

Planning for plans 

Of course, so much of our and your work isn’t about appeals. 

More than 700 of you tuned in live to our recent webinar Plan, Prepare, Progress: A practical guide to the new local plan system, and we were inundated with questions afterwards (99 to be very precise), so we know plans are on your minds. 

A few tips: 

• Watch the webinar if you haven’t already (or even watch it again!) and share it with your colleagues. 

• It’s a busy time so keep in touch with us around submission dates for your plan – it really helps us manage resources. 

• Make sure you’ve read the procedural guide on how we conduct local plan casework, including gateway assessments and examinations. 

Infrastructure changes 

On the subject of new guidance, there’s plenty going on in the world of infrastructure. 

Just last week a number of amendments to the Planning Act 2008 introduced by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 came into force.  

They affect the process of applying for, and making representations about, applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs).  

Do have a read and of course make sure you use our pre-application service to get that vital information and feedback ahead of an application. 

Keep running up that hill 

So, the ‘planning as marathon’ metaphor? Well, there’s certainly a marathon amount of reading to get through with all the new guidance and plenty of reform to come.  

As with all long-distance races, the best outcomes happen when there is a race plan with a realistic pace. I hope you'll see from our data that, although it isn't going to happen overnight, our plan is working and the support of customers and stakeholders makes all the difference.