🗓 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.
📊 Ryedale
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 51 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 | 100% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Dec | — |
| Mar | Submit by end of Jan | 94.2% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Feb | 98.2% |
| May | Submit by end of Mar | 96% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Apr | 100% |
| Jul | Submit by end of May | 100% |
| Aug | Submit by end of Jun | 80% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jul | 50% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Aug | 80% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Sep | 0% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Oct | — |
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 Ryedale. 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 (50 days). Slowest: Heritage / LB (104 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 123 | 97.6% | 89 d (13 wk) | 39–224 d | Filter ▸ |
| Tree Works / TPO | 47 | 91.5% | 50 d (7 wk) | 29–98 d | Filter ▸ |
| Discharge Conditions | 37 | 100% | 61 d (9 wk) | 22–147 d | Filter ▸ |
| Heritage / LB | 20 | 100% | 104 d (15 wk) | 68–145 d | Filter ▸ |
| Householder | 10 | 70% | 81 d (12 wk) | 51–158 d | Filter ▸ |
| Amendment / NMA | 8 | 75% | 79 d (11 wk) | 56–114 d | Filter ▸ |
| Listed Building (low sample) | 4 | 75% | 151 d (22 wk) | 72–284 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement (low sample) | 3 | 100% | 88 d (13 wk) | 63–127 d | Filter ▸ |
| Conservation Area (low sample) | 1 | 100% | 35 d (5 wk) | 35–35 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 | 52 |
94.2%
|
98d (~14wk) | → April | 35–224d |
| February | 57 |
98.2%
|
84d (~12wk) | → May | 37–186d |
| March | 50 |
96%
|
73d (~10wk) | → May | 23–158d |
| April | 38 |
100%
|
70d (~10wk) | → June | 22–143d |
| May | 31 |
100%
|
67d (~10wk) | → July | 31–151d |
| June | 30 |
80%
|
63d (~9wk) | → August | 14–111d |
| July | 8 |
50%
|
67d (~10wk) | → September | 49–105d |
| August | 5 |
80%
|
53d (~8wk) | → October | 35–69d |
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 | 62 | 100% | 79 |
| Tuesday | 56 | 94.6% | 75 |
| Wednesday | 50 | 88% | 81 |
| Thursday | 56 | 87.5% | 98 |
| Friday | 50 | 96% | 80 |
📊 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.