Planning performance statistics: annual and quarterly reports, 2016-2017

Annual and Quarterly Planning Performance Statistics, 2016/17

This report presents statistics on planning decision-making and timescales across the years 2012/13 to 2016/17. It is based on quarterly data collected by the Scottish Government from Local and Planning Authorities as part of the Planning Performance Framework (introduced in 2012). Longer term trends are also presented where data for earlier years is available in a comparable format.

Annual Trends (excludes legacy cases and processing agreements)

Chart 1: Applications for Local Developments: Number of decisions

Chart 2: Applications for Local Developments: Average decision time (weeks)

Chart 3: Applications for Major Developments: Number of decisions

Chart 4: Applications for Major Developments: Average decision time (weeks)

Key Findings for the year 2016/17: ^[1]

Reduction in planning applications decided in 2016/17 compared with previous four years.

• The number of Local Development ^[2] decisions in 2016/17 totalled 26,986, a decrease of 6% (1,778 applications) from the previous year. This drop was largely due to fewer decisions for housing, electricity generation, householder, business & industry and other developments.
• The number of Major Development ^[3] decisions in 2016/17 totalled 246, a decrease of 8% (22 applications) from 2015/16. There were decreases across all categories of development apart from those for housing and business & industry.

The overall average decision time for Local Developments is the quickest annual figure since the start of this data collection in 2012/13.

• Local Development decisions were quicker by an average of 4 days per application compared with 2015/16 (9.2 weeks in 2016/17 compared with 9.7 weeks in 2015/16) and were the quickest since the start of this data collection in 2012/13.
• Improvements were seen in average decision times for most categories of Local Developments apart from electricity generation, AMSCs ^[4] , waste management and telecommunications. In particular, the average decision time for local housing developments was 12.7 weeks for 2016/17, one week quicker than the previous year (13.7 weeks).
• A total of 22 out of 34 planning authorities have reported improvements in their average decision times for Local Developments in 2016/17 compared to 2015/16.

The overall average decision time for Major Developments is the slowest annual figure since the start of this data collection in 2012/13.

• Major Development decisions were slower by an average of 6 weeks per application compared with 2015/16 (37.0 weeks in 2016/17 compared with 31.0 weeks in 2015/16) and were the slowest since the start of this data collection in 2012/13.
• Average figures based on a relatively small number of Major Development applications can be skewed by a few lengthy decisions. Almost 69% of Major applications in 2016/17 were decided in a time quicker than the average of 37.0 weeks.
• Decisions for most categories of Major Developments were slower apart from minerals and waste management applications. In particular, the average decision time for major housing developments was 44.9 weeks for 2016/17, more than four weeks slower than the previous year (40.6 weeks).

Quarterly Trends (excludes legacy cases and processing agreements)

Chart 5: Applications for Local Developments: Number of decisions

Chart 6: Applications for Local Developments: Average decision time (weeks)

Key Findings for Quarter 4 of 2016/17: ^[5]

The overall average decision time for Local Developments was quicker in quarter 4 of 2016/17 when compared with the previous quarter, and was quicker than the equivalent quarter four figures in each of the previous four years.

• For quarter 4 of 2016/17, the average decision time for Local Developments was 9.3 weeks. This is almost two days quicker than the previous quarter (9.5 weeks), and one week quicker than the equivalent quarter in 2015/16 (10.3 weeks).
• Local housing applications were decided in an average of 12.8 weeks, the same as the previous quarter (12.8 weeks), but quicker by almost thirteen days than the equivalent quarter in the previous year (14.6 weeks).

Chart 7: Applications for Major Developments: Number of decisions

Chart 8: Applications for Major Developments: Average decision time (weeks)

The overall average decision time for Major Developments in quarter 4 of 2016/17 was quicker than the previous quarter but slower than quarter 4 in the previous year.

• For quarter 4 of 2016/17, the average decision time for Major Developments was 32.6 weeks, more than one week quicker than the previous quarter (33.9 weeks), but more than 5 weeks slower than the equivalent quarter in 2015/16 (27.2 weeks).

• Major housing applications were decided in an average of 45.6 weeks, six and a half weeks slower than in the previous quarter (39.1 weeks), and twelve and a half weeks slower than in the equivalent quarter in the previous year (33.1 weeks).

These figures exclude pre 3rd August 2009 legacy cases; please see sections 3 to 7 for data on applications that include legacy cases. They also exclude applications subject to processing agreements; please see section 2 for further information on these.