Planning permission in Wiltshire
What actually happens to planning applications decided by Wiltshire Council: approval rates, decision times, appeal odds and the development plan they are judged against. Figures cover 14,255 applications decided in the two years to July 2026, from the council's public planning register.
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How long does planning permission take in Wiltshire?
Half of decided applications took 53 days or less from validation to decision. The middle 50% of applications took between 39 and 81 days, and 60.9% were decided inside the 8-week statutory target for minor applications. Complex or contested schemes take longer.
The Wiltshire local plan
The Wiltshire Core Strategy (adopted 2015) remains the development plan, together with the Chippenham and Wiltshire housing site allocations plans, saved district-era policies, joint minerals and waste plans and around 61 made neighbourhood plans.
The Local Plan Review was withdrawn from examination in May 2026 and carries no weight; work on a brand new local plan began in mid 2026 with no draft policies yet.
What tends to shape decisions here: Nutrient neutrality in the River Avon Special Area of Conservation catchment constrains development around Salisbury and south Wiltshire, alongside two National Landscapes, the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site and Salisbury Plain. The council has acknowledged a significant housing land shortfall (under 3 years), so the tilted balance is routinely engaged.
If Wiltshire says no: appeal odds
Between 2021 and 2025 the Planning Inspectorate overturned 34.4% of appealed Wiltshire refusals (189 of 550 decided appeals). The national average is 31.1%. More detail, including how Wiltshire ranks nationally: planning appeals in Wiltshire.
Source: decisions published on the Wiltshire Council public planning register, two years to July 2026. Approval rate = approvals divided by approvals plus refusals; withdrawn applications and other outcomes are excluded. We track 50,468 Wiltshire applications in total. Plan facts as of July 2026; always check the council's own pages for the latest position.
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