🗓 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.
📊 Broxbourne
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 46 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 | 97.4% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Dec | 70% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Jan | 94.1% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Feb | 58.3% |
| May | Submit by end of Mar | 63.2% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Apr | 78.3% |
| Jul | Submit by end of May | 62.5% |
| Aug | Submit by end of Jun | 60% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jul | 64.7% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Aug | 82.4% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Sep | 87% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Oct | 72.4% |
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 Broxbourne. 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 (23 days). Slowest: Amendment / NMA (96 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tree Works / TPO | 74 | 95.9% | 23 d (3 wk) | 1–112 d | Filter ▸ |
| Full / Major | 47 | 4.3% | 94 d (13 wk) | 48–274 d | Filter ▸ |
| Amendment / NMA | 11 | 81.8% | 96 d (14 wk) | 26–287 d | Filter ▸ |
| Heritage / LB (low sample) | 5 | 0% | 91 d (13 wk) | 56–171 d | Filter ▸ |
| Discharge Conditions (low sample) | 1 | 100% | 53 d (8 wk) | 53–53 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 | 17 |
94.1%
|
44d (~6wk) | → February | 2–147d |
| February | 12 |
58.3%
|
89d (~13wk) | → May | 6–286d |
| March | 19 |
63.2%
|
75d (~11wk) | → June | 19–274d |
| April | 23 |
78.3%
|
83d (~12wk) | → July | — |
| May | 24 |
62.5%
|
64d (~9wk) | → July | 2–155d |
| June | 25 |
60%
|
81d (~12wk) | → September | 56–123d |
| July | 34 |
64.7%
|
65d (~9wk) | → September | 16–213d |
| August | 34 |
82.4%
|
43d (~6wk) | → September | 4–141d |
| September | 23 |
87%
|
32d (~5wk) | → October | 9–112d |
| October | 29 |
72.4%
|
46d (~7wk) | → December | 1–80d |
| November | 38 |
97.4%
|
42d (~6wk) | → December | 14–78d |
| December | 10 |
70%
|
49d (~7wk) | → February | 27–66d |
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 | 77 | 75.3% | 59 |
| Tuesday | 65 | 78.5% | 60 |
| Wednesday | 61 | 77% | 63 |
| Thursday | 47 | 80.9% | 47 |
| Friday | 38 | 63.2% | 66 |
📊 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.