🗓 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.
📊 Croydon
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 80 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 | 41.7% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Nov | 53.1% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Dec | 55.8% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Jan | 53.6% |
| May | Submit by end of Feb | 66.7% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Mar | 100% |
| Jul | Submit by end of Apr | — |
| Aug | Submit by end of May | 100% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jun | 100% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Jul | 0% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Aug | 0% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Sep | 64% |
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 Croydon. 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: Conservation Area (31 days). Slowest: Advertisement (101 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Householder | 189 | 81.5% | 68 d (10 wk) | 29–295 d | Filter ▸ |
| Full / Major | 155 | 56.1% | 89 d (13 wk) | 35–359 d | ✕ clear |
| Lawful Development | 112 | 77.7% | 40 d (6 wk) | 2–105 d | Filter ▸ |
| Conservation Area | 68 | 91.2% | 31 d (4 wk) | 8–95 d | Filter ▸ |
| Prior Approval | 52 | 76.9% | 54 d (8 wk) | 20–247 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 42 | 69% | 101 d (14 wk) | 38–148 d | Filter ▸ |
| Change of Use (low sample) | 6 | 66.7% | 134 d (19 wk) | 51–247 d | Filter ▸ |
| Listed Building (low sample) | 5 | 100% | 72 d (10 wk) | 38–97 d | Filter ▸ |
| Outline (low sample) | 2 | 0% | 53 d (8 wk) | 51–54 d | Filter ▸ |
ⓘ Month-by-month stats above are filtered to Full / Major 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 | 28 |
53.6%
|
56d (~8wk) | → March | 37–79d |
| February | 9 |
66.7%
|
86d (~12wk) | → May | 48–359d |
| September | 25 |
64%
|
131d (~19wk) | → January | 107–170d |
| October | 12 |
41.7%
|
118d (~17wk) | → February | 89–162d |
| November | 32 |
53.1%
|
69d (~10wk) | → January | 46–121d |
| December | 43 |
55.8%
|
71d (~10wk) | → February | 35–115d |
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 | 44 | 52.3% | 93 |
| Tuesday | 26 | 57.7% | 86 |
| Wednesday | 24 | 45.8% | 72 |
| Thursday | 33 | 72.7% | 121 |
| Friday | 28 | 50% | 93 |
📊 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.