🗓 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.
📅 Monthly breakdown per LPA
🏆 Best / worst windows
⚡ Decision-speed by month
🌍 National baseline for context
🏆 Best LPAs to submit in January
These LPAs have the highest approval rate for applications received in January
(regardless of when the decision lands). Tie-broken by decision speed. Min 8 decisions per LPA for sample honesty.
📅 Decision lag: most decisions take 6-12 weeks, so a January submission typically gets decided in March–April.
| Rank | LPA | Decisions in January | Approved | Refused | Approval rate | Avg days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 1 | Richmond upon Thames | 176 | 175 | 1 |
99.4%
|
39 |
| 🥈 2 | Southwark | 225 | 215 | 10 |
95.6%
|
41 |
| 🥉 3 | Gateshead Council | 16 | 15 | 1 |
93.8%
|
53 |
| 4 | Haringey | 131 | 122 | 9 |
93.1%
|
50 |
| 5 | Wandsworth | 242 | 222 | 20 |
91.7%
|
51 |
| 6 | Tower Hamlets | 109 | 99 | 10 |
90.8%
|
53 |
| 7 | Westminster | 253 | 228 | 25 |
90.1%
|
47 |
| 8 | Sutton | 94 | 84 | 10 |
89.4%
|
51 |
| 9 | Hillingdon | 202 | 179 | 23 |
88.6%
|
50 |
| 10 | Ealing | 201 | 175 | 26 |
87.1%
|
41 |
| 11 | Newham | 129 | 110 | 19 |
85.3%
|
48 |
| 12 | Camden | 55 | 46 | 9 |
83.6%
|
50 |
| 13 | Lewisham | 12 | 10 | 2 |
83.3%
|
8 |
| 14 | Bexley | 138 | 114 | 24 |
82.6%
|
51 |
| 15 | City of London | 1,436 | 1,175 | 261 |
81.8%
|
47 |
| 16 | Enfield | 254 | 204 | 50 |
80.3%
|
42 |
| 17 | Redbridge | 257 | 206 | 51 |
80.2%
|
34 |
| 18 | Lambeth | 172 | 135 | 37 |
78.5%
|
52 |
| 19 | Kingston upon Thames | 143 | 112 | 31 |
78.3%
|
54 |
| 20 | Havering | 130 | 100 | 30 |
76.9%
|
50 |
| 21 | Greenwich | 168 | 129 | 39 |
76.8%
|
52 |
| 22 | Barnet | 296 | 226 | 70 |
76.4%
|
41 |
| 23 | Croydon | 202 | 152 | 50 |
75.2%
|
44 |
| 24 | Hounslow | 158 | 117 | 41 |
74.1%
|
48 |
| 25 | Islington | 123 | 91 | 32 |
74%
|
41 |
| 26 | Barking and Dagenham | 11 | 8 | 3 |
72.7%
|
26 |
| 27 | Kensington and Chelsea | 11 | 8 | 3 |
72.7%
|
26 |
| 28 | Hammersmith and Fulham | 11 | 8 | 3 |
72.7%
|
26 |
| 29 | Brent | 180 | 127 | 53 |
70.6%
|
47 |
Showing 29 LPAs with ≥8 decisions in January. LPAs with fewer than 8 decisions in this month excluded for sample-size honesty. Sorted by approval rate (highest first), tiebreak by decision speed.
📊 Data sources & freshness
Use this to identify which LPAs are particularly receptive in a given month. Not a substitute for the per-LPA breakdown — go check the LPA tab for the full picture of your council.
- planning_applications month aggregate
Approval rate computed per LPA for applications received in each month. Decisions stretching >365 days excluded as outliers (typically older PINS-derived rows). - Sample-size gating
LPAs with fewer than 8 decisions in the month excluded — too small to rank reliably.