🗓 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.
📊 Wandsworth
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 | 94.1% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Dec | 88.5% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Jan | 91.7% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Feb | 90.8% |
| May | Submit by end of Mar | 100% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Apr | 75% |
| Jul | Submit by end of May | 75% |
| Aug | Submit by end of Jun | 92.3% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jul | 88.9% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Aug | 83.3% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Sep | 100% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Oct | 94.6% |
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 Wandsworth. 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 (45 days). Slowest: Full / Major (83 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservation Area | 251 | 95.2% | 64 d (9 wk) | 0–311 d | Filter ▸ |
| Householder | 247 | 91.1% | 69 d (10 wk) | 33–278 d | Filter ▸ |
| Full / Major | 191 | 89% | 83 d (12 wk) | 1–346 d | Filter ▸ |
| Lawful Development | 91 | 91.2% | 60 d (9 wk) | 35–297 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 30 | 90% | 59 d (8 wk) | 42–108 d | Filter ▸ |
| Prior Approval | 19 | 57.9% | 45 d (6 wk) | 32–69 d | Filter ▸ |
| Listed Building | 16 | 100% | 80 d (11 wk) | 56–166 d | Filter ▸ |
| Change of Use (low sample) | 5 | 100% | 56 d (8 wk) | 50–69 d | Filter ▸ |
| Reserved Matters (low sample) | 1 | 100% | 361 d (52 wk) | 361–361 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 | 242 |
91.7%
|
51d (~7wk) | → March | 3–361d |
| February | 98 |
90.8%
|
47d (~7wk) | → April | — |
| March | 16 |
100%
|
116d (~17wk) | → July | 1–362d |
| April | 8 |
75%
|
297d (~42wk) (outlier) | → February | 255–335d |
| May | 8 |
75%
|
265d (~38wk) (outlier) | → February | 238–297d |
| June | 13 |
92.3%
|
231d (~33wk) (outlier) | → February | 184–282d |
| July | 9 |
88.9%
|
215d (~31wk) (outlier) | → February | 183–238d |
| August | 18 |
83.3%
|
179d (~26wk) | → February | 135–229d |
| September | 40 |
100%
|
126d (~18wk) | → January | 100–186d |
| October | 93 |
94.6%
|
100d (~14wk) | → January | 63–173d |
| November | 239 |
94.1%
|
64d (~9wk) | → January | 37–147d |
| December | 253 |
88.5%
|
60d (~9wk) | → February | 21–112d |
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 | 295 | 90.5% | 91 |
| Tuesday | 223 | 91% | 78 |
| Wednesday | 194 | 93.8% | 89 |
| Thursday | 174 | 92.5% | 111 |
| Friday | 184 | 92.9% | 90 |
📊 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.