🗓 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.
📊 West Northamptonshire
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 49 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 | — |
| Feb | Submit by end of Dec | — |
| Mar | Submit by end of Jan | 94.5% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Feb | 94% |
| May | Submit by end of Mar | 94.7% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Apr | 92.2% |
| Jul | Submit by end of May | 93.3% |
| Aug | Submit by end of Jun | 95.5% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jul | — |
| Oct | Submit by end of Aug | — |
| Nov | Submit by end of Sep | — |
| 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 West Northamptonshire. 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 (44 days). Slowest: Heritage / LB (104 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 409 | 91.4% | 93 d (13 wk) | 43–216 d | Filter ▸ |
| Tree Works / TPO | 306 | 99.3% | 44 d (6 wk) | 27–86 d | Filter ▸ |
| Discharge Conditions | 252 | 99.6% | 64 d (9 wk) | 9–221 d | Filter ▸ |
| Amendment / NMA | 80 | 87.5% | 46 d (7 wk) | 7–140 d | Filter ▸ |
| Heritage / LB | 45 | 86.7% | 104 d (15 wk) | 53–196 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 34 | 94.1% | 85 d (12 wk) | 49–174 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 | 236 |
94.5%
|
81d (~12wk) | → April | 12–221d |
| February | 283 |
94%
|
76d (~11wk) | → May | 8–200d |
| March | 337 |
94.7%
|
69d (~10wk) | → May | 12–168d |
| April | 204 |
92.2%
|
62d (~9wk) | → June | 9–126d |
| May | 163 |
93.3%
|
54d (~8wk) | → July | 7–92d |
| June | 110 |
95.5%
|
39d (~6wk) | → July | 3–72d |
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 | 320 | 94.4% | 69 |
| Tuesday | 269 | 94.1% | 66 |
| Wednesday | 223 | 94.2% | 68 |
| Thursday | 258 | 93% | 68 |
| Friday | 263 | 94.3% | 66 |
📊 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.