🗓 Submission Timing Intelligence
When is the best month — and weekday — to submit your planning application? Real approval-rate + decision-speed data from 25,848 dated decisions across UK LPAs.
📊 Brent
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.
🎯 Inverse view — "I want a decision in [month], when do I submit?"
Based on this LPA's typical decision-lag of 71 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 | 85.7% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Dec | 83.9% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Jan | 84.1% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Feb | 66.7% |
| May | Submit by end of Mar | 100% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Apr | 90% |
| Jul | Submit by end of May | 90.9% |
| Aug | Submit by end of Jun | 100% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jul | 100% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Aug | 100% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Sep | 66.7% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Oct | 90% |
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 Brent. 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: Prior Approval (27 days). Slowest: Full / Major (60 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 249 | 65.5% | 60 d (9 wk) | 16–306 d | Filter ▸ |
| Householder | 239 | 86.6% | 57 d (8 wk) | 1–167 d | ✕ clear |
| Lawful Development | 126 | 78.6% | 47 d (7 wk) | 11–80 d | Filter ▸ |
| Prior Approval | 100 | 76% | 27 d (4 wk) | 1–59 d | Filter ▸ |
| Conservation Area | 37 | 100% | 46 d (7 wk) | 30–122 d | Filter ▸ |
| Listed Building | 12 | 16.7% | 56 d (8 wk) | 29–71 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 12 | 83.3% | 56 d (8 wk) | 38–81 d | Filter ▸ |
| Outline (low sample) | 1 | 100% | 77 d (11 wk) | 77–77 d | Filter ▸ |
ⓘ Month-by-month stats above are filtered to Householder only. The table above always shows all types so you can compare.
📅 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 | 44 |
84.1%
|
53d (~8wk) | → March | 37–78d |
| February | 9 |
66.7%
|
51d (~7wk) | → April | 25–56d |
| March | 4 |
100%
|
74d (~11wk) | → May | 70–76d |
| April | 10 |
90%
|
53d (~8wk) | → June | 33–65d |
| May | 22 |
90.9%
|
44d (~6wk) | → June | 5–68d |
| June | 19 |
100%
|
35d (~5wk) | → July | 2–55d |
| July | 5 |
100%
|
9d (~1wk) | → July | 1–27d |
| September | 3 |
66.7%
|
141d (~20wk) | → February | 123–151d |
| October | 10 |
90%
|
94d (~13wk) | → January | 74–144d |
| November | 56 |
85.7%
|
62d (~9wk) | → January | 42–122d |
| December | 56 |
83.9%
|
58d (~8wk) | → February | 27–100d |
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 | 67 | 86.6% | 63 |
| Tuesday | 47 | 80.9% | 55 |
| Wednesday | 54 | 94.4% | 51 |
| Thursday | 31 | 87.1% | 60 |
| Friday | 39 | 82.1% | 54 |
📊 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)
25,848 dated decisions where both received_date and decision_type are known. 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.