Planning performance statistics 2019/2020: quarterly (October to March)

Applications for Major Developments (excludes legacy cases)

There were 136 decisions on major developments in the final six months of 2019/20, 15 fewer than in the same period in the previous year. The average decision time for the 90 of these not subject to processing agreements was 35.7 weeks, almost six weeks slower than the 29.8 weeks for the same period in 2018/19.

The average decision time figures of 31.7 and 40.1 weeks for quarters three and four have been influenced by a number of lengthier decision times, including 19 decision times of longer than a year – seven in quarter three and twelve in quarter four. Two in each quarter had decision times of longer than two years. The longest, in quarter four, taking 4 years.

If the applications that took over two years are excluded the average decision time for quarter three would be 27.1 weeks, over four weeks quicker. For quarter four the average decision time would be 34.1 weeks, a reduction of 6 weeks.

Further information on the distribution of decision times for major development applications is given in Annex A.

In quarter three of 2019/20 there were 28 major development applications with processing agreements, 75.0% (21) met agreed timescales that had been set between developers and local authorities. In quarter four there were 18, 55.6% (10) meeting the agreed timescales.

In quarter three major applications with processing agreements accounted for 37% of all the decisions made for major developments (28 of 75). In quarter four this dropped to 29.5%, 18 of 61 major applications.

There was also one Major Development pre 3rd August 2009 legacy case determined. Further details about legacy cases can be seen in Section 10.