💡 Submission Timing works best inside your planning journey — open or create your case there and your documents and site data fill this in for you.

🗓 Submission Timing Intelligence

When is the best month — and weekday — to submit your planning application? Real approval-rate + decision-speed data from 143,700 dated decisions across UK LPAs.

📅 Monthly breakdown per LPA 🏆 Best / worst windows ⚡ Decision-speed by month 🌍 National baseline for context

🏛️ By LPA 🗓 Best LPAs by Month

Pick a council

Narrow by type All types Householder Full / Major Outline Reserved Matters Listed Building Conservation Area Prior Approval Lawful Development Change of Use Tree Works / TPO Discharge Conditions Amendment / NMA

📊 National (all LPAs)

Months below refer to when you submit, not when the decision lands. Each application is bucketed by its received_date month — but the approval rate measures the final outcome, whenever it landed (60-90 days later typically). The lag is already baked into the signal: "submit in December = 100% approval" already accounts for the fact that those decisions arrive in Feb/March. The month-by-month table below shows the lag explicitly so you can see the full cycle.

Seasonality at this LPA is weak — approval rates vary by less than 5pp regardless of submit month. Submit when ready.

⚖️ What this council's headline is made of. 30.1% of its typed decisions are tree consents, condition discharges and amendments — consent administration that approves at 90%. On actual development decisions the approval rate is 84.8% (92,565 decisions), 5.2 points lower than the mixed figure.
Use the type chips above to filter to the application type you are actually making — and treat cross-council comparisons of the mixed number with care, since the mix depends on which source fed each council.

🏆 Best SUBMIT Month

September

Apps submitted then → 88.9% approval (6,488 decisions)

⚠️ Avoid SUBMITTING In

December

Apps submitted then → 85.0% approval (8,918 decisions)

⚡ Submit For Fastest Decision

August

Apps submitted then → avg 58 days to decision

🎯 Inverse view — "I want a decision in [month], when do I submit?"

Based on this LPA's typical decision-lag of 69 days (~2 months), the table below shows when to submit if you want your decision to land in a specific month.

If you want a decision in...	Submit by (approx.)	That submit month's approval rate
Jan	Submit by end of Nov	86.9%
Feb	Submit by end of Dec	85%
Mar	Submit by end of Jan	85.5%
Apr	Submit by end of Feb	86.3%
May	Submit by end of Mar	86.7%
Jun	Submit by end of Apr	86.1%
Jul	Submit by end of May	86.1%
Aug	Submit by end of Jun	86.3%
Sep	Submit by end of Jul	86.6%
Oct	Submit by end of Aug	88%
Nov	Submit by end of Sep	88.9%
Dec	Submit by end of Oct	88.4%

Inverse calculation is approximate — actual decision time varies (range typically ±30 days). Use the Decision Time Predictor for tighter forecasts.

⏱ Decision speed by application type

How long different application types actually take at National (all LPAs). Householder apps are statutorily 8 weeks; full/major are 13 weeks — but the real numbers usually drift. This is what the data says, not what the statute says.
→ Fastest: Tree Works / TPO (40 days). Slowest: Outline (119 days).

Application type	Decisions	Approval rate	Avg days	Range
Full / Major	51,807	84.4%	81 d (12 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Tree Works / TPO	20,417	91%	40 d (6 wk)	0–359 d	Filter ▸
Discharge Conditions	11,650	91.1%	67 d (10 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Amendment / NMA	7,451	85.5%	51 d (7 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Householder	5,334	84.7%	68 d (10 wk)	1–365 d	Filter ▸
Heritage / LB	4,618	92.5%	83 d (12 wk)	0–364 d	Filter ▸
Advertisement	3,731	81.2%	71 d (10 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Lawful Development	2,887	80.8%	49 d (7 wk)	0–337 d	Filter ▸
Conservation Area	1,505	89.4%	47 d (7 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Listed Building	1,270	87.7%	98 d (14 wk)	4–356 d	Filter ▸
Prior Approval	1,111	67.5%	41 d (6 wk)	0–345 d	Filter ▸
Change of Use	103	60.2%	85 d (12 wk)	14–337 d	Filter ▸
Outline	29	10.3%	119 d (17 wk)	37–361 d	Filter ▸
Reserved Matters	17	82.4%	103 d (15 wk)	15–361 d	Filter ▸

🚀

Submit-now-or-wait recommendation

SUBMIT NOW

Current approval rate is 86.9% — only 2pp below the best month. Not worth waiting.

Current month's decision speed: ~70 days avg.

📅 Month-by-month breakdown — full submit→decide cycle

Each row shows the complete journey for applications received in that month: how long they took, when the decision actually landed, and what % were approved. The approval rate already accounts for everything that happens between submission and decision — the lag is part of the signal.

Submit month	Decisions	Approval rate	Median lag	Decision typically lands in	Range
January	14,089	85.5%	62d (~9wk)	→ March	—
February	13,069	86.3%	65d (~9wk)	→ April	—
March	13,418	86.7%	69d (~10wk)	→ May	—
April	10,899	86.1%	70d (~10wk)	→ June	—
May	12,303	86.1%	68d (~10wk)	→ July	—
June	16,671	86.3%	60d (~9wk)	→ August	—
July	13,960	86.6%	58d (~8wk)	→ September	—
August	8,787	88%	58d (~8wk)	→ October	—
September	6,488	88.9%	70d (~10wk)	→ November	—
October	8,246	88.4%	76d (~11wk)	→ January	—
November	9,807	86.9%	70d (~10wk)	→ January	—
December	8,918	85%	68d (~10wk)	→ February	—

Read across each row: submit in [month] → wait [median lag] → decision lands in [target month] → outcome [approval rate]. The approval rate is the final outcome of the whole cycle, not a snapshot.

🗓 Day-of-week patterns

Day received	Decisions	Approval rate	Avg days
Sunday	574	89%	76
Monday	32,646	86.3%	72
Tuesday	29,511	86.7%	73
Wednesday	27,667	86.5%	72
Thursday	26,892	86.9%	74
Friday	25,539	86.8%	75
Saturday	865	86.9%	69

🌍 National picture — all 143,700 dated decisions

The broader pattern: March has the highest approval rate in our corpus; July the lowest. Pick an LPA above to see council-specific timing.

Received in	Decisions	Approval rate	Avg days
January	14,095	85.5%	62
February	13,067	86.3%	64
March	13,418	86.7%	69
April	10,899	86.1%	70
May	12,306	86.1%	67
June	16,672	86.3%	60
July	13,959	86.6%	58
August	8,787	88%	58
September	6,490	88.9%	64
October	8,247	88.4%	74
November	9,809	86.9%	70
December	8,923	85%	67

⚖️ Why timing matters less than they pretend: A planning decision should be made on its substantive merits, not the season. But officers have queues, committees have schedules, and consultees go on holiday. The data is a guide to operational friction, not policy friction. If your scheme is sound, time it to land in their best window. If it's borderline, give yourself every advantage.

📊 Data sources & freshness

Timing is a tactical edge, not strategic justification. Use alongside the constraint check + pattern fingerprint to make the case strong on substance, then time it to land well.