🗓 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.
📊 Westminster
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 96 days (~3 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 Oct | 85.8% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Nov | 89.8% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Dec | 89.5% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Jan | 90.1% |
| May | Submit by end of Feb | 91.6% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Mar | 85.9% |
| Jul | Submit by end of Apr | 100% |
| Aug | Submit by end of May | 92.3% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jun | 87.5% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Jul | 82.1% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Aug | 97.7% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Sep | 93.2% |
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 Westminster. 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: Conservation Area (63 days). Slowest: Householder (124 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listed Building | 489 | 90.4% | 112 d (16 wk) | 7–340 d | Filter ▸ |
| Full / Major | 423 | 86.8% | 120 d (17 wk) | 14–360 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 213 | 81.2% | 70 d (10 wk) | 5–341 d | Filter ▸ |
| Householder | 116 | 82.8% | 124 d (18 wk) | 16–365 d | Filter ▸ |
| Conservation Area | 96 | 92.7% | 63 d (9 wk) | 2–365 d | Filter ▸ |
| Lawful Development | 30 | 73.3% | 102 d (15 wk) | 9–298 d | Filter ▸ |
| Prior Approval | 9 | 66.7% | 70 d (10 wk) | 48–112 d | Filter ▸ |
| Change of Use (low sample) | 6 | 66.7% | 69 d (10 wk) | 48–110 d | Filter ▸ |
| Reserved Matters (low sample) | 2 | 50% | 54 d (8 wk) | 15–92 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 | 253 |
90.1%
|
47d (~7wk) | → March | 2–89d |
| February | 202 |
91.6%
|
39d (~6wk) | → March | — |
| March | 92 |
85.9%
|
28d (~4wk) | → April | 2–359d |
| April | 5 |
100%
|
330d (~47wk) (outlier) | → March | 307–341d |
| May | 13 |
92.3%
|
288d (~41wk) (outlier) | → March | 246–310d |
| June | 16 |
87.5%
|
256d (~37wk) (outlier) | → March | 232–285d |
| July | 39 |
82.1%
|
227d (~32wk) (outlier) | → March | 172–267d |
| August | 44 |
97.7%
|
196d (~28wk) | → March | 142–236d |
| September | 74 |
93.2%
|
156d (~22wk) | → February | 107–196d |
| October | 359 |
85.8%
|
127d (~18wk) | → February | 74–178d |
| November | 469 |
89.8%
|
101d (~14wk) | → February | 44–146d |
| December | 256 |
89.5%
|
76d (~11wk) | → March | 8–121d |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 6 | 83.3% | 95 |
| Monday | 407 | 88.5% | 134 |
| Tuesday | 372 | 89.8% | 129 |
| Wednesday | 388 | 89.7% | 132 |
| Thursday | 359 | 89.1% | 127 |
| Friday | 354 | 90.4% | 142 |
| Saturday | 11 | 81.8% | -36 |
📊 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.