🗓 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.
📊 Kingston upon Thames
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 72 days (~2 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 Nov | 81.2% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Dec | 77.6% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Jan | 78.3% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Feb | 78% |
| May | Submit by end of Mar | 100% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Apr | — |
| Jul | Submit by end of May | — |
| Aug | Submit by end of Jun | 100% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jul | 100% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Aug | 70% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Sep | 71.4% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Oct | 69.2% |
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 Kingston upon Thames. 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: Prior Approval (46 days). Slowest: Full / Major (81 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Householder | 144 | 87.5% | 56 d (8 wk) | 29–114 d | Filter ▸ |
| Lawful Development | 87 | 79.3% | 60 d (9 wk) | 18–193 d | Filter ▸ |
| Full / Major | 71 | 70.4% | 81 d (12 wk) | 48–328 d | Filter ▸ |
| Conservation Area | 43 | 86% | 57 d (8 wk) | 35–84 d | Filter ▸ |
| Prior Approval | 21 | 19% | 46 d (7 wk) | 38–56 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 15 | 86.7% | 68 d (10 wk) | 49–120 d | Filter ▸ |
| Change of Use (low sample) | 4 | 50% | 56 d (8 wk) | 56–56 d | Filter ▸ |
| Listed Building (low sample) | 3 | 33.3% | 115 d (16 wk) | 103–134 d | Filter ▸ |
| Outline (low sample) | 1 | 0% | 55 d (8 wk) | 55–55 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 | 143 |
78.3%
|
54d (~8wk) | → March | 18–69d |
| February | 41 |
78%
|
52d (~7wk) | → April | 9–328d |
| July | 6 |
100%
|
189d (~27wk) | → January | 160–210d |
| August | 10 |
70%
|
180d (~26wk) | → February | 147–223d |
| September | 14 |
71.4%
|
126d (~18wk) | → January | 103–177d |
| October | 39 |
69.2%
|
98d (~14wk) | → January | 68–169d |
| November | 101 |
81.2%
|
59d (~8wk) | → January | 40–118d |
| December | 170 |
77.6%
|
56d (~8wk) | → February | 27–102d |
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 | 132 | 75.8% | 71 |
| Tuesday | 120 | 79.2% | 62 |
| Wednesday | 97 | 71.1% | 104 |
| Thursday | 111 | 82% | 87 |
| Friday | 81 | 77.8% | 88 |
📊 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.