🗓 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.
📊 East Lindsey
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 77 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 | 84.2% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Nov | 83.9% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Dec | 93.8% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Jan | 94% |
| May | Submit by end of Feb | 91.4% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Mar | 96.9% |
| Jul | Submit by end of Apr | 94.6% |
| Aug | Submit by end of May | 96.1% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jun | 93.6% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Jul | 96.7% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Aug | 95.9% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Sep | 93.9% |
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 East Lindsey. 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: Amendment / NMA (40 days). Slowest: Heritage / LB (98 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 446 | 93.5% | 82 d (12 wk) | 31–363 d | Filter ▸ |
| Discharge Conditions | 122 | 98.4% | 63 d (9 wk) | 1–280 d | Filter ▸ |
| Amendment / NMA | 66 | 89.4% | 40 d (6 wk) | 6–124 d | Filter ▸ |
| Heritage / LB | 32 | 100% | 98 d (14 wk) | 42–315 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 27 | 92.6% | 65 d (9 wk) | 27–114 d | Filter ▸ |
| Tree Works / TPO | 16 | 93.8% | 62 d (9 wk) | 31–134 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 | 200 |
94%
|
71d (~10wk) | → March | 6–341d |
| February | 35 |
91.4%
|
75d (~11wk) | → May | 9–257d |
| March | 32 |
96.9%
|
98d (~14wk) | → June | — |
| April | 93 |
94.6%
|
71d (~10wk) | → June | 28–297d |
| May | 77 |
96.1%
|
61d (~9wk) | → July | 7–169d |
| June | 78 |
93.6%
|
70d (~10wk) | → August | 1–363d |
| July | 92 |
96.7%
|
59d (~8wk) | → September | 6–210d |
| August | 73 |
95.9%
|
52d (~7wk) | → October | 14–165d |
| September | 33 |
93.9%
|
62d (~9wk) | → November | 7–263d |
| October | 19 |
84.2%
|
109d (~16wk) | → February | 16–321d |
| November | 31 |
83.9%
|
100d (~14wk) | → February | 54–348d |
| December | 112 |
93.8%
|
62d (~9wk) | → February | 14–258d |
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 | 183 | 93.4% | 74 |
| Tuesday | 187 | 95.7% | 79 |
| Wednesday | 181 | 93.9% | 72 |
| Thursday | 155 | 94.2% | 75 |
| Friday | 180 | 92.8% | 74 |
📊 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.