🗓 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.
📊 Hull
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 106 days (~4 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 Sep | 83.3% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Oct | 83.3% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Nov | 100% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Dec | 83.3% |
| May | Submit by end of Jan | 100% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Feb | 84.6% |
| Jul | Submit by end of Mar | 91.7% |
| Aug | Submit by end of Apr | 100% |
| Sep | Submit by end of May | 40% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Jun | 80% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Jul | 100% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Aug | 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 Hull. 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 (48 days). Slowest: Heritage / LB (94 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 121 | 87.6% | 93 d (13 wk) | 37–340 d | ✕ clear |
| Tree Works / TPO | 60 | 95% | 48 d (7 wk) | 0–194 d | Filter ▸ |
| Amendment / NMA | 21 | 95.2% | 80 d (11 wk) | 0–178 d | Filter ▸ |
| Heritage / LB | 20 | 95% | 94 d (13 wk) | 52–199 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 13 | 92.3% | 80 d (11 wk) | 36–247 d | Filter ▸ |
| Discharge Conditions (low sample) | 6 | 0% | 65 d (9 wk) | 24–148 d | Filter ▸ |
| Conservation Area (low sample) | 3 | 100% | 40 d (6 wk) | 39–41 d | Filter ▸ |
| Householder (low sample) | 1 | 100% | 41 d (6 wk) | 41–41 d | Filter ▸ |
| Prior Approval (low sample) | 1 | 100% | 41 d (6 wk) | 41–41 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 | 9 |
100%
|
98d (~14wk) | → April | 56–232d |
| February | 26 |
84.6%
|
88d (~13wk) | → May | 37–234d |
| March | 24 |
91.7%
|
98d (~14wk) | → June | 51–288d |
| April | 6 |
100%
|
112d (~16wk) | → August | 51–172d |
| May | 5 |
40%
|
100d (~14wk) | → August | 85–111d |
| June | 10 |
80%
|
88d (~13wk) | → September | 60–187d |
| July | 8 |
100%
|
73d (~10wk) | → September | 55–129d |
| August | 9 |
88.9%
|
69d (~10wk) | → October | 38–132d |
| September | 6 |
83.3%
|
129d (~18wk) | → January | 68–340d |
| October | 6 |
83.3%
|
85d (~12wk) | → January | 56–107d |
| November | 6 |
100%
|
92d (~13wk) | → February | 52–183d |
| December | 6 |
83.3%
|
120d (~17wk) | → April | 91–154d |
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 | 24 | 83.3% | 94 |
| Tuesday | 20 | 85% | 94 |
| Wednesday | 27 | 88.9% | 95 |
| Thursday | 24 | 87.5% | 91 |
| Friday | 23 | 91.3% | 129 |
📊 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.