🗓 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

🏛️ 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

📊 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 100.0% approval (sample: 8 decisions). Avoid submitting in May (94.0% approval).

🏆 Best SUBMIT Month

March

Apps submitted then → 100.0% approval (8 decisions)

⚠️ Avoid SUBMITTING In

May

Apps submitted then → 94.0% approval (67 decisions)

⚡ Submit For Fastest Decision

July

Apps submitted then → avg 12 days to decision

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

Based on this LPA's typical decision-lag of 46 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	50%
Feb	Submit by end of Dec	50%
Mar	Submit by end of Jan	40%
Apr	Submit by end of Feb	50%
May	Submit by end of Mar	100%
Jun	Submit by end of Apr	100%
Jul	Submit by end of May	94%
Aug	Submit by end of Jun	100%
Sep	Submit by end of Jul	100%
Oct	Submit by end of Aug	0%
Nov	Submit by end of Sep	—
Dec	Submit by end of Oct	100%

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: Outline (39 days). Slowest: Listed Building (102 days).

Application type	Decisions	Approval rate	Avg days	Range
Householder	4,349	86.8%	67 d (10 wk)	1–365 d	Filter ▸
Full / Major	3,984	74.5%	84 d (12 wk)	1–365 d	Filter ▸
Lawful Development	2,341	84.4%	47 d (7 wk)	0–337 d	Filter ▸
Conservation Area	1,255	87.3%	50 d (7 wk)	0–365 d	Filter ▸
Listed Building	1,013	90.2%	102 d (15 wk)	7–356 d	Filter ▸
Advertisement	943	69.8%	73 d (10 wk)	5–349 d	Filter ▸
Prior Approval	786	67.4%	42 d (6 wk)	0–345 d	Filter ▸
Outline	141	91.5%	39 d (6 wk)	0–361 d	✕ clear
Discharge Conditions	126	91.3%	47 d (7 wk)	3–337 d	Filter ▸
Change of Use	78	66.7%	84 d (12 wk)	23–319 d	Filter ▸
Reserved Matters (low sample)	6	83.3%	151 d (22 wk)	15–361 d	Filter ▸

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

🤔

Submit-now-or-wait recommendation

BORDERLINE

Current month (August): 0% approval. Best (March): 100%. Best is too far away — submit now.

Current month's decision speed: ~151 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	5	40%	45d (~6wk)	→ March	11–64d
March	8	100%	59d (~8wk)	→ May	48–97d
April	5	100%	49d (~7wk)	→ June	20–63d
May	67	94%	38d (~5wk)	→ June	6–75d
June	29	100%	36d (~5wk)	→ July	—
July	15	100%	12d (~2wk)	→ July	1–22d
October	3	100%	11d (~2wk)	→ October	—
December	4	50%	34d (~5wk)	→ January	4–55d

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	100%	0
Monday	33	84.8%	37
Tuesday	35	91.4%	41
Wednesday	56	92.9%	32
Thursday	40	85%	54
Friday	36	94.4%	31
Saturday	6	66.7%	151

🌍 National picture — all 25,848 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	4,142	83.5%	46
February	2,191	87.1%	41
March	584	89.6%	53
April	301	86.4%	122
May	726	86.6%	82
June	821	90.5%	82
July	380	86.6%	135
August	295	87.1%	180
September	560	90%	146
October	1,342	86.4%	111
November	3,590	84.1%	70
December	4,530	81.5%	56

⚖️ 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.