🗓 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.
📊 Exeter
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 159 days (~5 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 Aug | 83.8% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Sep | 80% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Oct | 94.4% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Nov | 50% |
| May | Submit by end of Dec | 71.4% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Jan | 89.2% |
| Jul | Submit by end of Feb | 85.3% |
| Aug | Submit by end of Mar | 83.7% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Apr | 85.7% |
| Oct | Submit by end of May | 74.5% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Jun | 80.6% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Jul | 88.9% |
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 Exeter. 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 (35 days). Slowest: Full / Major (101 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 395 | 83.5% | 101 d (14 wk) | 31–357 d | ✕ clear |
| Tree Works / TPO | 205 | 96.1% | 35 d (5 wk) | 7–142 d | Filter ▸ |
| Heritage / LB | 114 | 91.2% | 99 d (14 wk) | 10–347 d | Filter ▸ |
| Amendment / NMA | 88 | 93.2% | 49 d (7 wk) | 1–215 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 45 | 88.9% | 91 d (13 wk) | 14–261 d | Filter ▸ |
| Discharge Conditions | 32 | 84.4% | 92 d (13 wk) | 8–305 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 | 37 |
89.2%
|
124d (~18wk) | → May | 48–312d |
| February | 34 |
85.3%
|
100d (~14wk) | → May | 43–253d |
| March | 49 |
83.7%
|
100d (~14wk) | → June | 43–348d |
| April | 42 |
85.7%
|
117d (~17wk) | → August | 41–347d |
| May | 47 |
74.5%
|
89d (~13wk) | → August | 43–343d |
| June | 62 |
80.6%
|
89d (~13wk) | → September | 35–307d |
| July | 45 |
88.9%
|
88d (~13wk) | → October | 31–259d |
| August | 37 |
83.8%
|
89d (~13wk) | → November | 33–348d |
| September | 15 |
80%
|
114d (~16wk) | → January | 56–267d |
| October | 18 |
94.4%
|
89d (~13wk) | → January | 39–182d |
| December | 7 |
71.4%
|
190d (~27wk) | → June | 47–357d |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 16 | 81.3% | 108 |
| Monday | 64 | 85.9% | 107 |
| Tuesday | 67 | 82.1% | 108 |
| Wednesday | 77 | 83.1% | 99 |
| Thursday | 83 | 84.3% | 109 |
| Friday | 60 | 75% | 109 |
| Saturday | 33 | 90.9% | 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.