🗓 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.
📊 Lambeth
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 74 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 | 61.9% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Dec | 65.3% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Jan | 64.6% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Feb | 68.4% |
| May | Submit by end of Mar | — |
| Jun | Submit by end of Apr | 100% |
| Jul | Submit by end of May | 100% |
| Aug | Submit by end of Jun | 66.7% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jul | — |
| Oct | Submit by end of Aug | — |
| Nov | Submit by end of Sep | 100% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Oct | 58.8% |
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 Lambeth. 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: Lawful Development (61 days). Slowest: Listed Building (87 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 213 | 66.2% | 78 d (11 wk) | 36–316 d | ✕ clear |
| Householder | 155 | 80.6% | 65 d (9 wk) | 28–210 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 88 | 48.9% | 66 d (9 wk) | 55–122 d | Filter ▸ |
| Lawful Development | 82 | 82.9% | 61 d (9 wk) | 14–141 d | Filter ▸ |
| Listed Building | 61 | 75.4% | 87 d (12 wk) | 53–316 d | Filter ▸ |
| Conservation Area | 31 | 54.8% | 70 d (10 wk) | 18–146 d | Filter ▸ |
| Prior Approval | 9 | 66.7% | 78 d (11 wk) | 38–196 d | Filter ▸ |
| Change of Use (low sample) | 7 | 57.1% | 89 d (13 wk) | 46–196 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 | 48 |
64.6%
|
58d (~8wk) | → March | 40–80d |
| February | 19 |
68.4%
|
54d (~8wk) | → April | 36–59d |
| April | 4 |
100%
|
292d (~42wk) (outlier) | → February | 276–315d |
| June | 3 |
66.7%
|
266d (~38wk) (outlier) | → March | 266–267d |
| September | 6 |
100%
|
139d (~20wk) | → February | 120–175d |
| October | 17 |
58.8%
|
99d (~14wk) | → January | 70–152d |
| November | 42 |
61.9%
|
74d (~11wk) | → January | 45–146d |
| December | 72 |
65.3%
|
63d (~9wk) | → February | 49–104d |
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 | 81 | 59.3% | 115 |
| Tuesday | 43 | 79.1% | 132 |
| Wednesday | 45 | 75.6% | 129 |
| Thursday | 27 | 66.7% | 74 |
| Friday | 31 | 61.3% | 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)
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.