🗓 Submission Timing Intelligence
When is the best month — and weekday — to submit your planning application? Real approval-rate + decision-speed data from 144,156 dated decisions across UK LPAs.
📊 Winchester
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 80 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 | 93.5% |
| Feb | Submit by end of Nov | 97.4% |
| Mar | Submit by end of Dec | 93.2% |
| Apr | Submit by end of Jan | 94.7% |
| May | Submit by end of Feb | 97.9% |
| Jun | Submit by end of Mar | 98% |
| Jul | Submit by end of Apr | 85.7% |
| Aug | Submit by end of May | 96.4% |
| Sep | Submit by end of Jun | 98.1% |
| Oct | Submit by end of Jul | 91.4% |
| Nov | Submit by end of Aug | 89.8% |
| Dec | Submit by end of Sep | 92.5% |
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 Winchester. 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: Amendment / NMA (51 days). Slowest: Heritage / LB (77 days).
| Application type | Decisions | Approval rate | Avg days | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full / Major | 867 | 94.3% | 77 d (11 wk) | 24–330 d | ✕ clear |
| Tree Works / TPO | 694 | 97.4% | 52 d (7 wk) | 3–254 d | Filter ▸ |
| Discharge Conditions | 451 | 99.8% | 58 d (8 wk) | 0–333 d | Filter ▸ |
| Amendment / NMA | 117 | 88.9% | 51 d (7 wk) | 1–246 d | Filter ▸ |
| Heritage / LB | 116 | 97.4% | 77 d (11 wk) | 31–202 d | Filter ▸ |
| Advertisement | 50 | 88% | 71 d (10 wk) | 41–195 d | Filter ▸ |
| Householder (low sample) | 7 | 57.1% | 69 d (10 wk) | 56–101 d | Filter ▸ |
| Prior Approval (low sample) | 3 | 100% | 35 d (5 wk) | 26–51 d | Filter ▸ |
| Listed Building (low sample) | 1 | 0% | 305 d (44 wk) | 305–305 d | Filter ▸ |
| Lawful Development (low sample) | 1 | 0% | 66 d (9 wk) | 66–66 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 | 94 |
94.7%
|
76d (~11wk) | → April | 25–308d |
| February | 94 |
97.9%
|
76d (~11wk) | → May | 24–285d |
| March | 147 |
98%
|
80d (~11wk) | → June | 34–259d |
| April | 91 |
85.7%
|
77d (~11wk) | → July | 44–330d |
| May | 84 |
96.4%
|
71d (~10wk) | → July | 26–216d |
| June | 54 |
98.1%
|
74d (~11wk) | → August | 33–266d |
| July | 70 |
91.4%
|
79d (~11wk) | → October | 49–192d |
| August | 49 |
89.8%
|
75d (~11wk) | → November | 45–162d |
| September | 40 |
92.5%
|
79d (~11wk) | → December | 40–182d |
| October | 62 |
93.5%
|
78d (~11wk) | → January | 29–151d |
| November | 38 |
97.4%
|
72d (~10wk) | → January | 47–106d |
| December | 44 |
93.2%
|
87d (~12wk) | → March | 48–212d |
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 | 229 | 95.2% | 74 |
| Tuesday | 140 | 95.7% | 76 |
| Wednesday | 170 | 90% | 83 |
| Thursday | 163 | 94.5% | 81 |
| Friday | 165 | 96.4% | 73 |
📊 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)
144,156 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.