East of England

Bedford planning statistics

Householder applications decided in the year to June 2026, compared with the rest of England.

Search planning applications Bedford council website

Within 8 weeks, no extension

58.0%

192nd of 297

4.7 points slower than England

Granted

87.6%

229th of 297

2.9 points lower than England

Extension of time

37.0%

198th of 297

4.7 points higher than England

Decisions (12 months)

548

Bedford decided 548 householder applications in the year to June 2026, granting 87.6%.

58.0% were decided within 8 weeks with no extension, against 62.7% across England (192nd of 297 for speed).

A further 37.0% were decided under an extension of time agreed with the applicant.

That is up from 53.0% a year earlier.

Of 15 householder appeals decided in the same period, 33.3% were allowed.

How quickly decisions are made

Bedford against England, share of householder decisions each quarter

Within 8 weeks, no extension
Extension of time
England, within 8 weeks

Source: MHCLG PS2, OGL v3. Chart: buildwiz.uk

Show data

Quarter	Within 8 weeks, no extension	Extension of time	England, within 8 weeks
2008 Q1	91.3%	0.0%	89.5%
2008 Q2	91.7%	0.0%	89.4%
2008 Q3	90.5%	0.0%	89.7%
2008 Q4	88.4%	0.0%	90.3%
2009 Q1	95.6%	0.0%	90.3%
2009 Q2	92.0%	0.0%	91.7%
2009 Q3	89.1%	0.0%	91.4%
2009 Q4	93.5%	0.0%	91.0%
2010 Q1	95.3%	0.0%	88.8%
2010 Q2	92.0%	0.0%	89.8%
2010 Q3	90.2%	0.0%	88.4%
2010 Q4	89.4%	0.0%	87.7%
2011 Q1	90.8%	0.0%	86.4%
2011 Q2	91.3%	0.0%	85.9%
2011 Q3	91.3%	0.0%	84.9%
2011 Q4	89.7%	0.0%	84.9%
2012 Q1	89.0%	0.0%	83.7%
2012 Q2	88.0%	0.0%	84.2%
2012 Q3	92.4%	0.0%	82.9%
2012 Q4	89.0%	0.0%	85.2%
2013 Q1	83.1%	0.0%	85.7%
2013 Q2	90.8%	0.0%	86.3%
2013 Q3	89.5%	0.0%	85.3%
2013 Q4	84.3%	0.0%	86.3%
2014 Q1	84.1%	0.0%	85.4%
2014 Q2	87.6%	0.0%	84.9%
2014 Q3	86.4%	0.0%	82.5%
2014 Q4	90.2%	0.6%	82.1%
2015 Q1	89.6%	4.5%	80.4%
2015 Q2	83.4%	6.7%	80.6%
2015 Q3	80.4%	10.6%	79.2%
2015 Q4	86.5%	8.0%	80.0%
2016 Q1	85.7%	5.8%	78.3%
2016 Q2	68.4%	5.3%	79.8%
2016 Q3	56.8%	15.1%	77.7%
2016 Q4	75.1%	16.1%	78.0%
2017 Q1	84.9%	12.9%	77.3%
2017 Q2	83.4%	15.2%	78.5%
2017 Q3	82.3%	12.9%	76.1%
2017 Q4	86.4%	9.7%	77.1%
2018 Q1	78.1%	15.6%	73.7%
2018 Q2	74.3%	17.4%	74.0%
2018 Q3	55.9%	26.3%	72.7%
2018 Q4	63.7%	28.5%	72.7%
2019 Q1	52.3%	42.5%	69.9%
2019 Q2	44.3%	44.3%	72.1%
2019 Q3	40.6%	45.3%	69.6%
2019 Q4	58.0%	30.5%	71.5%
2020 Q1	48.3%	34.7%	68.4%
2020 Q2	38.5%	43.6%	63.9%
2020 Q3	33.0%	52.7%	63.8%
2020 Q4	38.6%	41.4%	65.3%
2021 Q1	38.1%	47.7%	59.4%
2021 Q2	43.0%	43.4%	58.4%
2021 Q3	31.9%	52.7%	53.1%
2021 Q4	28.1%	47.5%	53.0%
2022 Q1	41.4%	37.4%	51.6%
2022 Q2	42.6%	41.4%	56.0%
2022 Q3	55.7%	30.7%	53.3%
2022 Q4	58.1%	33.0%	54.1%
2023 Q1	62.4%	26.0%	53.5%
2023 Q2	69.3%	26.0%	58.5%
2023 Q3	64.8%	29.0%	59.0%
2023 Q4	74.1%	22.9%	59.8%
2024 Q1	69.2%	25.0%	58.8%
2024 Q2	71.3%	24.0%	64.4%
2024 Q3	46.5%	43.9%	64.2%
2024 Q4	54.0%	40.0%	65.6%
2025 Q1	58.2%	40.4%	62.1%
2025 Q2	53.9%	40.3%	65.0%
2025 Q3	52.5%	46.1%	62.5%
2025 Q4	64.1%	34.4%	64.7%
2026 Q1	55.9%	35.1%	60.6%
2026 Q2	59.5%	32.7%	62.7%

Share of applications granted

Bedford against England

Bedford
England

Source: MHCLG PS2, OGL v3. Chart: buildwiz.uk

Show data

Quarter	Bedford	England
2008 Q1	80.4%	85.1%
2008 Q2	81.8%	86.1%
2008 Q3	79.7%	86.3%
2008 Q4	85.1%	85.3%
2009 Q1	85.3%	85.9%
2009 Q2	84.7%	86.8%
2009 Q3	85.2%	87.4%
2009 Q4	88.4%	86.9%
2010 Q1	86.5%	87.0%
2010 Q2	88.0%	88.0%
2010 Q3	90.7%	87.7%
2010 Q4	91.4%	87.5%
2011 Q1	95.0%	87.9%
2011 Q2	90.8%	88.5%
2011 Q3	91.3%	88.3%
2011 Q4	91.9%	88.3%
2012 Q1	89.0%	88.2%
2012 Q2	93.1%	89.2%
2012 Q3	89.0%	89.0%
2012 Q4	92.5%	88.9%
2013 Q1	91.9%	89.8%
2013 Q2	92.6%	90.6%
2013 Q3	92.8%	90.3%
2013 Q4	94.8%	89.6%
2014 Q1	94.9%	89.8%
2014 Q2	95.5%	90.5%
2014 Q3	93.8%	90.0%
2014 Q4	95.7%	89.2%
2015 Q1	97.0%	89.3%
2015 Q2	91.7%	90.2%
2015 Q3	87.7%	90.0%
2015 Q4	89.6%	89.2%
2016 Q1	92.9%	90.0%
2016 Q2	93.7%	90.3%
2016 Q3	92.2%	90.2%
2016 Q4	94.0%	89.7%
2017 Q1	87.1%	89.9%
2017 Q2	95.7%	90.5%
2017 Q3	93.1%	90.0%
2017 Q4	88.1%	90.1%
2018 Q1	90.6%	90.5%
2018 Q2	89.0%	91.0%
2018 Q3	87.2%	91.2%
2018 Q4	89.4%	90.5%
2019 Q1	88.9%	90.3%
2019 Q2	92.3%	91.0%
2019 Q3	88.0%	90.6%
2019 Q4	83.3%	89.8%
2020 Q1	86.4%	89.9%
2020 Q2	85.3%	90.2%
2020 Q3	79.7%	90.6%
2020 Q4	86.0%	90.3%
2021 Q1	81.6%	90.9%
2021 Q2	86.3%	91.2%
2021 Q3	86.1%	91.0%
2021 Q4	83.1%	90.1%
2022 Q1	82.8%	90.0%
2022 Q2	84.5%	90.4%
2022 Q3	83.0%	89.8%
2022 Q4	83.2%	89.4%
2023 Q1	78.5%	89.3%
2023 Q2	82.3%	89.2%
2023 Q3	85.2%	88.6%
2023 Q4	74.7%	88.2%
2024 Q1	82.7%	88.2%
2024 Q2	81.4%	89.1%
2024 Q3	84.5%	89.4%
2024 Q4	86.7%	88.6%
2025 Q1	87.2%	89.3%
2025 Q2	86.4%	90.4%
2025 Q3	91.5%	90.1%
2025 Q4	85.9%	90.1%
2026 Q1	80.2%	90.6%
2026 Q2	90.5%	91.0%

How long decisions took

Householder decisions over the last 12 months

Within 8 weeks58.0%
8 to 13 weeks4.2%
13 to 26 weeks0.5%
Over 26 weeks0.2%
Extension of time agreed37.0%

Source: MHCLG PS2, OGL v3. Chart: buildwiz.uk

Show data

Time taken	Decisions
Within 8 weeks	318
8 to 13 weeks	23
13 to 26 weeks	3
Over 26 weeks	1
Extension of time agreed	203

Appeals

Decided: 15
Allowed: 33.3%
Median wait: 8 weeks

Householder appeals to the Planning Inspectorate decided in the same 12 months. England: 34.4% allowed.

Local constraints

Bedford has published 29 conservation areas.
Bedford has not published Article 4 data to the national planning data platform.

Both can remove permitted development rights. Not every council has published its data yet, so check with the council before relying on permitted development.

Next steps for your extension

Compare every council · How we calculate these figures

Get notified when new sections land

We're publishing new guides as they're finished. Join the list to find out when yours is ready.