Planning application decision times show improvements

Statistics on quarterly planning performance from Scotland’s chief statistician found that the overall average decision time for all major developments concluded in the first six months of 2018/19 (34.6 weeks for 112 applications) was 1.6 weeks quicker than for the same period in the previous year (36.2 weeks). In addition, there were 61 major applications decided that were subject to processing agreements with 43 (70%) of these meeting agreed timescales.

The average decision time for major housing developments decided in the first six months of 2018/19 was quicker by almost four weeks compared to the same period in 2017/18.

There were 52 major housing developments decided during the first six months of 2018/19, the same as in the equivalent period in the previous year. The average decision time for these 52 major housing applications was 37.0 weeks, quicker by almost four weeks than the 40.9 weeks for the equivalent period in the previous year.

The overall average decision time for all local applications concluded in the first six months of 2018/19 (8.9 weeks for 13,391 applications) was the same as for the equivalent period in the previous year. In addition, there were 1,051 local developments decided that had processing agreements in place, with 786 (75%) of these meeting agreed timescales.

There were 2,396 decisions made on local housing applications subject to average time calculations in the first six months of 2018/19. The average decision time was 12.1 weeks, quicker by almost three days than over the same period in 2017/18 (12.5 weeks).

The average decision time for local housing developments decided in the first six months of 2018/19 was quicker by almost three days than the equivalent period in 2017/18.

There were 2,396 decisions made on local housing applications subject to average time calculations in the first six months of 2018/19. The average decision time was 12.1 weeks, quicker by almost three days than over the same period in 2017/18 (12.5 weeks).

The average decision time for the 1,221 local housing applications decided in quarter one was 12.0 weeks, slightly quicker than the 12.2 weeks for quarter one in the previous year. In quarter two 1,175 applications had an average decision time of 12.1 weeks, quicker by almost five days than the 12.8 weeks for quarter two in the previous year.

In addition, in quarter one of 2018/19 there were 150 local housing applications with processing agreements, 72.7% (109) of these applications met agreed timescales that had been set between developers and local authorities. In quarter two there were 153, 85.6% (131) meeting the agreed timescales.