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Planning performance statistics paint mixed picture

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planning stockThe average decision time for major housing developments has improved by more than nine weeks over the last three months though decisions for local housing developments have slowed down, according to new figures.

Latest quarterly statistics on planning applications decided in October to December 2016 show that the average decision time for local developments, including applications for smaller housing developments and household extensions, was three days slower than the previous quarter, but one day faster than the equivalent quarter in the previous year.

The average decision time for major developments, including applications for developments of 50 or more homes, was more than ten and a half weeks faster than the previous quarter but one and a half weeks slower than the equivalent quarter in the previous year.

Over the third quarter (October to December) of 2016/17 there were 6,604 decisions made on local developments, with an average decision time of 9.5 weeks. This was slower by three days compared with the previous quarter (9.1 weeks), but quicker by more than one day when compared to the equivalent quarter in the previous year (9.7 weeks), and is the quickest average time for quarter three since the start of this data collection in 2012/13.

For the 73 decisions made on major developments the average decision time was 34.2 weeks. This was more than ten and a half weeks quicker than the previous quarter (44.8 weeks) but slower by one and a half weeks compared to the equivalent quarter three figure (32.7 weeks) in 2015/16.

The overall rate of approvals for all types of application was 94.2% in the period October to December 2016, a decrease from the previous quarter (94.6%), but an increase from quarter three in 2015/16 (94.0%).

Key Findings for Quarter 3 (October to December) of 2016/17:

The overall average decision time for all local developments was slower than the previous quarter but quicker than the equivalent quarter three figures in each of the previous four years.

  • For applications subject to average time calculations and excluding one pre 3rd-August 2009 legacy case there were 6,604 decisions made on local applications decided during quarter three of 2016/17. The overall average decision time for these local developments was 9.5 weeks, slower than the previous quarter (9.1 weeks), but quicker by one day compared to the equivalent quarter in 2015/16 (9.7 weeks), and is the quickest average time for quarter three since the start of this data collection in 2012/13.

    • For quarter three in 2016/17 the percentage of local development decisions made in less than two months was 73.0%, lower than 76.3% in the previous quarter but similar to the equivalent quarter three percentage in 2015/16 (73.1%).

    • In addition, there were 312 local developments decided in the third quarter of 2016/17 that had processing agreements in place, with 268 (86%) of these meeting agreed timescales.

      • The average decision time for local housing developments was slower by more than one day compared to the previous quarter, but quicker than the equivalent quarter three figures in each of the previous four years.

      • There were 1,210 decisions made on local housing applications decided during quarter three of 2016/17. The average decision time for these local housing developments was 12.8 weeks, slower by more than one day compared to the previous quarter (12.6 weeks) but over five days quicker than the equivalent quarter in 2015/16 (13.6 weeks), and the quickest average time for quarter three since the start of this data collection in 2012/13.

      • In addition, there were 150 local housing applications that were subject to processing agreements with 133 (89%) of these meeting agreed timescales.

        • The overall average decision time for all major developments was over ten and a half weeks quicker than the previous quarter but slower by one and half weeks than quarter 3 in 2015/16.

        • For applications subject to average time calculations there were a total of 73 major applications decided during the third quarter of 2016/17 and the average decision time was 34.2 weeks, more than ten and a half weeks quicker than the previous quarter (44.8 weeks) but one and a half weeks slower than quarter 3 in 2015/16 (32.7 weeks).

        • The average time figure of 34.2 weeks has been influenced by a number of lengthier decision times, including three decision times that each took longer than two years. More than 70% of the 73 major development applications were decided in a time that was quicker than the average.

        • In addition there were 25 major applications that were subject to processing agreements with 16 (64%) of these meeting agreed timescales

          • The average decision time for major housing developments was quicker by more than nine weeks compared to the previous quarter but slower by almost four weeks than the quarter three figure for 2015/16.

          • There were 32 decisions made on major housing developments decided during quarter three of 2015/16. The average decision time for these major housing developments was 39.1 weeks, quicker by more than nine weeks compared to the previous quarter (48.5 weeks) but slower than the quarter three figure for 2015/16 (35.3 weeks).

          • In addition, there were 19 major housing applications that were subject to processing agreements with 14 (74%) of these meeting agreed timescales.

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