Planning performance statistics: annual and quarterly reports, 2012-2016

5. Average decision times - Quarterly trends for Major Developments

5.1 All Major Developments

During the fourth quarter of 2015/16 there were 65 major applications decided, with an overall average decision time of 26.3 weeks, the quickest quarterly figure since the start of this data collection in quarter 1 of 2012/13, over six weeks quicker than the previous quarter (32.7 weeks), and over 14 weeks quicker than the equivalent quarter in 2014/15 (40.7 weeks). When the 6 legacy cases are included the average decision time increases by 17.7 weeks to 44.0 weeks ( Quarter 4, 2015/16: Table 2).

In addition, there were 18 major developments decided in quarter four of 2015/16 that had processing agreements in place, with two thirds of these meeting agreed timescales. Developments with processing agreements are not included in average time calculations.

Chart 29: All Major developments: Number of decisions

Chart 30: All Major developments: Average decision time (weeks)

5.2 Major Housing

There were 23 major housing applications decided during the fourth quarter of 2015/16, with an overall average decision time of 30.5 weeks, quicker than the previous quarter (35.3 weeks) and the quickest quarterly figure since the start of this data collection in quarter 1 of 2012/13. When the additional 4 legacy cases are included the average decision time increases by 30.8 weeks to 61.3 weeks. The legacy cases include the erection of 55 dwellinghouses and garages at a former poultry farm in Aberdeenshire, a 13.89 hectare residential development with associated link road in West Lothian, the erection of 95 dwellinghouses and flatted dwellings, associated landscaping and road and drainage infrastructure in Falkirk and the restoration of Dunmore Park House to form 15 dwellings, conversion of stables to form 10 dwellings, erection of 45 dwellinghouses, associated landscaping works, amendments to A905 and site access road also in Falkirk ( Quarter 4, 2015/16: Table 7).

Chart 31: Major Housing developments: Number of decisions

Chart 32: Major Housing developments: Average decision time (weeks)

5.3 Major Business and Industry

Due to the small numbers of applications for major business and industry developments, average decision times are very variable. For the most recent quarter there were 5 applications with an overall average decision time of 16.8 weeks, this compares with 4 applications with an average decision time of 39.0 weeks for the previous quarter. There were no legacy cases in quarter 4 of 2015/16 ( Quarter 4, 2015/16: Table 9).

Chart 33: Major Business and Industry developments: Number of decisions

Chart 34: Major Business and Industry developments: Average decision time (weeks)

Information on decisions for other specific categories of major developments is available within the detailed excel tables at: Planning Authority Performance Statistics 2015/16 Quarter 4