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

2. Processing Agreements

Some local authorities use processing agreements ( Annual, 2016/17: Table 1), where the developer and the local authority agree on timescales for decisions. When an application is subject to a processing agreement it is removed from average decision time calculations and reported separately.

For the year 2016/17 there were a total of 1,503 applications that were subject to a processing agreement, with 81.7% of these processed within agreed timescales. This compares to 680 applications for the previous year, with 76.6% within agreed timescales. Of these 1,194 were for local developments with 83.4% processed within agreed timescales, the highest percentage since the start of the data collection in 2012/13. A further 95 were for major developments with 68.4% processed within agreed timescales, the lowest percentage since the start of the data collection in 2012/13. The 95 major applications concluded by the use of a processing agreement represents 28% of all major development applications concluded in 2016/17.

Chart 9: Applications for Local Developments: Number of processing agreements

Chart 10: Applications for Local Developments: Percentage processed within agreed timescales

Chart 11: Applications for Major Developments: Number of processing agreements

Chart 12: Applications for Major Developments: Percentage processed within agreed timescales

22 out of 34 planning authorities used processing agreements in 2016/17. Aberdeenshire with a total 491 processing agreements had a share of almost one third of these agreements, with 93.5% of these meeting agreed timescales.

Some processing agreements are made at the outset of an application whereas others have been activated at a later stage.