🗓 Submission Timing Intelligence
When is the best month — and weekday — to submit your planning application? Real approval-rate + decision-speed data from 144,156 dated decisions across UK LPAs.
📊 Forest of Dean
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 139 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 | 100% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Sep | 90.5% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Oct | 89.7% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Nov | 83.3% |
| May | Submit by end of Dec | 92.3% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Jan | 100% |
| Jul | Submit by end of Feb | 86.7% |
| Aug | Submit by end of Mar | 87.5% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Apr | 93.3% |
| Oct | Submit by end of May | 97% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Jun | 96.9% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Jul | 93.3% |
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 Forest of Dean. 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 (34 days). Slowest: Heritage / LB (107 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 269 | 92.9% | 97 d (14 wk) | 31–364 d | ✕ clear |
| Tree Works / TPO | 78 | 97.4% | 34 d (5 wk) | 11–57 d | Filter ▸ |
| Discharge Conditions | 60 | 98.3% | 63 d (9 wk) | 27–248 d | Filter ▸ |
| Amendment / NMA | 20 | 100% | 50 d (7 wk) | 6–164 d | Filter ▸ |
| Heritage / LB | 14 | 92.9% | 107 d (15 wk) | 55–298 d | Filter ▸ |
| Conservation Area (low sample) | 7 | 100% | 29 d (4 wk) | 28–31 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement (low sample) | 5 | 100% | 74 d (11 wk) | 50–141 d | Filter ▸ |
| Listed Building (low sample) | 2 | 50% | 51 d (7 wk) | 47–55 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 | 14 |
100%
|
103d (~15wk) | → April | 64–225d |
| February | 30 |
86.7%
|
87d (~12wk) | → May | 51–201d |
| March | 16 |
87.5%
|
170d (~24wk) | → September | 52–364d |
| April | 15 |
93.3%
|
120d (~17wk) | → August | 77–143d |
| May | 33 |
97%
|
96d (~14wk) | → August | 56–223d |
| June | 65 |
96.9%
|
63d (~9wk) | → August | 31–209d |
| July | 15 |
93.3%
|
111d (~16wk) | → November | 43–269d |
| August | 6 |
100%
|
143d (~20wk) | → January | 83–350d |
| September | 21 |
90.5%
|
96d (~14wk) | → December | 43–332d |
| October | 29 |
89.7%
|
67d (~10wk) | → December | 39–294d |
| November | 12 |
83.3%
|
116d (~17wk) | → March | 31–259d |
| December | 13 |
92.3%
|
178d (~25wk) | → June | 99–268d |
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 | 96.1% | 99 |
| Tuesday | 57 | 82.5% | 117 |
| Wednesday | 61 | 93.4% | 89 |
| Thursday | 38 | 92.1% | 122 |
| Friday | 43 | 100% | 123 |
📊 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)
144,156 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.