💡 Submission Timing works best inside your planning journey — open or create your case there and your documents and site data fill this in for you.

🗓 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.

📅 Monthly breakdown per LPA 🏆 Best / worst windows ⚡ Decision-speed by month 🌍 National baseline for context

🏛️ By LPA 🗓 Best LPAs by Month

Pick a council

Narrow by type All types Householder Full / Major Outline Reserved Matters Listed Building Conservation Area Prior Approval Lawful Development Change of Use Tree Works / TPO Discharge Conditions Amendment / NMA

📊 National (all LPAs)

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.

Best month to submit: March — apps submitted then end up with 90.0% approval (sample: 100 decisions). Avoid submitting in June (58.3% approval).

⚖️ What this council's headline is made of. 30.1% of its typed decisions are tree consents, condition discharges and amendments — consent administration that approves at 90%. On actual development decisions the approval rate is 84.8% (92,885 decisions), 5.2 points lower than the mixed figure.
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.

🏆 Best SUBMIT Month

March

Apps submitted then → 90.0% approval (100 decisions)

⚠️ Avoid SUBMITTING In

June

Apps submitted then → 58.3% approval (151 decisions)

⚡ Submit For Fastest Decision

March

Apps submitted then → avg 23 days to decision

🎯 Inverse view — "I want a decision in [month], when do I submit?"

Based on this LPA's typical decision-lag of 57 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	80.8%
Feb	Submit by end of Dec	82.1%
Mar	Submit by end of Jan	87.4%
Apr	Submit by end of Feb	86.5%
May	Submit by end of Mar	90%
Jun	Submit by end of Apr	71.9%
Jul	Submit by end of May	78%
Aug	Submit by end of Jun	58.3%
Sep	Submit by end of Jul	67.5%
Oct	Submit by end of Aug	65%
Nov	Submit by end of Sep	72.9%
Dec	Submit by end of Oct	79.5%

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 National (all LPAs). 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 (40 days). Slowest: Outline (119 days).

Application type	Decisions	Approval rate	Avg days	Range
Full / Major	52,044	84.4%	81 d (12 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Tree Works / TPO	20,474	91%	40 d (6 wk)	0–359 d	Filter ▸
Discharge Conditions	11,680	91.1%	67 d (10 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Amendment / NMA	7,470	85.4%	51 d (7 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Householder	5,334	84.7%	68 d (10 wk)	1–365 d	Filter ▸
Heritage / LB	4,621	92.5%	83 d (12 wk)	0–364 d	Filter ▸
Advertisement	3,737	81.2%	71 d (10 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Lawful Development	2,887	80.8%	49 d (7 wk)	0–337 d	✕ clear
Conservation Area	1,505	89.4%	47 d (7 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Listed Building	1,270	87.7%	98 d (14 wk)	4–356 d	Filter ▸
Prior Approval	1,111	67.5%	41 d (6 wk)	0–345 d	Filter ▸
Change of Use	103	60.2%	85 d (12 wk)	14–337 d	Filter ▸
Outline	29	10.3%	119 d (17 wk)	37–361 d	Filter ▸
Reserved Matters	17	82.4%	103 d (15 wk)	15–361 d	Filter ▸

ⓘ Month-by-month stats above are filtered to Lawful Development only. The table above always shows all types so you can compare.

🤔

Submit-now-or-wait recommendation

BORDERLINE

Current month (November): 80.8% approval. Best (March): 90%. Wait if scheme is borderline; submit now if confident.

Current month's decision speed: ~61 days avg.

📅 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	696	87.4%	39d (~6wk)	→ February	—
February	392	86.5%	35d (~5wk)	→ March	—
March	100	90%	23d (~3wk)	→ April	—
April	32	71.9%	92d (~13wk)	→ July	1–330d
May	82	78%	73d (~10wk)	→ July	3–308d
June	151	58.3%	68d (~10wk)	→ August	4–313d
July	163	67.5%	55d (~8wk)	→ September	4–230d
August	117	65%	43d (~6wk)	→ September	3–188d
September	70	72.9%	48d (~7wk)	→ November	4–172d
October	78	79.5%	85d (~12wk)	→ January	2–230d
November	370	80.8%	61d (~9wk)	→ January	5–315d
December	636	82.1%	50d (~7wk)	→ February	3–296d

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	5	80%	55
Monday	735	80.4%	52
Tuesday	617	80.7%	45
Wednesday	504	78.8%	52
Thursday	487	79.5%	52
Friday	515	84.1%	51
Saturday	41	82.9%	32

🌍 National picture — all 144,135 dated decisions

The broader pattern: March has the highest approval rate in our corpus; July the lowest. Pick an LPA above to see council-specific timing.

Received in	Decisions	Approval rate	Avg days
January	14,100	85.5%	62
February	13,074	86.3%	64
March	13,489	86.7%	69
April	11,043	86%	70
May	12,414	86%	67
June	16,676	86.3%	60
July	13,964	86.6%	58
August	8,794	88%	58
September	6,491	88.9%	64
October	8,300	88.4%	74
November	9,819	86.9%	70
December	8,938	85%	67

⚖️ Why timing matters less than they pretend: A planning decision should be made on its substantive merits, not the season. But officers have queues, committees have schedules, and consultees go on holiday. The data is a guide to operational friction, not policy friction. If your scheme is sound, time it to land in their best window. If it's borderline, give yourself every advantage.

📊 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.