🗓 Submission Timing Intelligence
When is the best month — and weekday — to submit your planning application? Real approval-rate + decision-speed data from 144,135 dated decisions across UK LPAs.
📊 Blaby
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.
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.
🎯 Inverse view — "I want a decision in [month], when do I submit?"
Based on this LPA's typical decision-lag of 83 days (~3 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 Oct | 97.6% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Nov | 86% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Dec | 94.6% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Jan | 94.4% |
| May | Submit by end of Feb | 84.4% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Mar | 90.9% |
| Jul | Submit by end of Apr | 96.8% |
| Aug | Submit by end of May | 95.9% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jun | 92.9% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Jul | 95.7% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Aug | 96.4% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Sep | 98.2% |
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 Blaby. 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 (44 days). Slowest: Full / Major (101 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 397 | 92.2% | 101 d (14 wk) | 28–362 d | Filter ▸ |
| Discharge Conditions | 126 | 99.2% | 85 d (12 wk) | 8–298 d | Filter ▸ |
| Tree Works / TPO | 107 | 99.1% | 44 d (6 wk) | 7–174 d | Filter ▸ |
| Amendment / NMA | 30 | 96.7% | 53 d (8 wk) | 2–283 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 18 | 100% | 66 d (9 wk) | 36–163 d | Filter ▸ |
| Householder | 16 | 100% | 66 d (9 wk) | 35–125 d | Filter ▸ |
| Conservation Area (low sample) | 7 | 100% | 37 d (5 wk) | 30–45 d | Filter ▸ |
| Heritage / LB (low sample) | 7 | 100% | 154 d (22 wk) | 54–292 d | Filter ▸ |
| Lawful Development (low sample) | 4 | 75% | 59 d (8 wk) | 42–74 d | Filter ▸ |
| Prior Approval (low sample) | 3 | 100% | 37 d (5 wk) | 35–41 d | Filter ▸ |
| Outline (low sample) | 1 | 0% | 113 d (16 wk) | 113–113 d | Filter ▸ |
📅 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 | 71 |
94.4%
|
69d (~10wk) | → March | 12–256d |
| February | 45 |
84.4%
|
128d (~18wk) | → June | 14–283d |
| March | 66 |
90.9%
|
113d (~16wk) | → July | 8–362d |
| April | 62 |
96.8%
|
100d (~14wk) | → July | 21–167d |
| May | 74 |
95.9%
|
81d (~12wk) | → August | 9–160d |
| June | 98 |
92.9%
|
83d (~12wk) | → September | — |
| July | 93 |
95.7%
|
73d (~10wk) | → September | 8–353d |
| August | 56 |
96.4%
|
71d (~10wk) | → October | 29–293d |
| September | 56 |
98.2%
|
67d (~10wk) | → November | 7–353d |
| October | 84 |
97.6%
|
59d (~8wk) | → December | 22–292d |
| November | 50 |
86%
|
97d (~14wk) | → February | 2–317d |
| December | 56 |
94.6%
|
86d (~12wk) | → March | 25–294d |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 176 | 96% | 95 |
| Tuesday | 159 | 92.5% | 92 |
| Wednesday | 183 | 92.9% | 96 |
| Thursday | 151 | 92.7% | 84 |
| Friday | 151 | 94.7% | 95 |
📊 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.
- planning_applications.received_date (updated Daily ingest)
144,135 dated decisions where a submission date and a decision are both known. The submission date is received_date, falling back to validated_date — many council portals publish only the validated date, and the statutory clock runs from it. Approval = approved/granted/permit. Sample size gating: months with fewer than 8 decisions excluded from best/worst recommendation. - Day-of-week patterns
Reflects when applicants choose to submit, which may correlate with applicant type (Monday = professional consultants; Friday = end-of-week DIY submissions). Causality is correlative not causal. - Decision-time outliers
Months showing 200+ day averages are flagged — they reflect older PINS-appeal-derived rows where determinations stretched over many months. Read the Jan/Feb/Nov/Dec numbers (largest samples) as the reliable benchmark.